


Fumbling Towards the Light

by books_and_starss



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 34,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23585509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/books_and_starss/pseuds/books_and_starss
Summary: When Eve decides to go exploring, she stumbles upon the Under Realm and the startling new Underking. Seth is minding his own business ruling the Under Realm when a girl he doesn't know barges in "on an adventure."/ sort of au but not really, inspired by the myth of Hades and Persephone, set 5-7 years after Dragonwatch
Relationships: Eve/Seth Sorenson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 28





	1. prologue

In a pitch-black room, either deep underground inside an island that could not be found or completely removed from the dimension of Earth, dwelt a being known only as the Underking.

The Underking himself was as dark and lonely as his abode, the Under Realm, a place where living beings avoided at all costs. The subjects of his realm were wraiths and phantoms and revenants and other such beings, not remotely companionable creatures.

The position of Underking was made for someone who wouldn’t mind being alone and in the darkness all of the time.

However, the current Underking had a bit of a problem with that.

He didn’t know much about the differences between the way he was and the way he was supposed to be. If he were to choose for himself, he would’ve been somewhere warm and maybe bright, with lots of people to talk to.

Although, sometimes he thought the loneliness was preferable to the alternative.

But all he knew was that he was the Underking, and so he needed to be able to do the things that came with it.

Sitting in the cold and dark throne room of the Under Realm, the Underking wondered, not for the first time, how he ended up here, his only company his dark subjects and the voices of Underkings past that spoke only inside his mind.

Even now, their voices whispered, grating on his mind. He knew they were part of the position—essentially part of him now—but he still found them somewhat unnerving. Any normal person would, he supposed.

But then again, he didn’t exactly count as a normal person, did he? He didn’t know about being the Underking, but he knew just about as much about being himself otherwise. Even before he’d become the Underking, all he had ever known was people chasing him down and trying to pull him to their sides of some huge disagreement. For all the different stories he’d heard, they could’ve all been lying about everything they told him.

The one thing each opposing party could agree on was his name: Seth.

* * *

_do we hide like beasts?_   
_cry like beasts?_   
_lie like beasts?_   
_die like beasts?_   
_is this our story?_


	2. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first actual chapter of the story! I'm honestly really excited to be writing this. I've had this idea for a long time, but I didn't have the motivation to actually get up and do it until recently. My current plan is to post a new chapter every Friday! It's a goal for myself that I intend to stick to. Thank you guys who are reading this! I'm excited for you to find out what happens! The characters and settings belong to Brandon Mull, and the little things at the ends of the chapters are song lyrics (so far all from John Mark McMillan, who also inspired the title for this)!

There were many good options for places that Eve Dalgorel could or should be right now, and the Blackridge Woods were not one of them. Where was she? If you guessed the Blackridge Woods, you would be right.

Eve was the youngest of the three children of the rulers of the Fair Folk at Terrabelle, the Fair Folk settlement at the dragon sanctuary Wyrmroost. Her parents had always been overprotective of her, which clashed unpleasantly with her adventurous personality. This was the reason for her being here at this moment: she was seeking adventure, and she knew for a fact that it could be found in the Blackridge Woods. If her parents knew she was here, she would get scolded or maybe lectured (just about the worst punishments she ever got for disobeying them, which didn’t exactly do an amazing job at discouraging her disobedience), but they were out on official business today, which made it perfect for this trip.

Eve took a deep breath and marched further on. She was on a path, but it wasn’t a commonly used one. It was only slightly worn; she could barely even see it. She had to be very careful to watch where she was stepping to make sure she didn’t trip on a root or a rock or a small animal, though she hadn’t seen any of those yet. The path was almost blocked in some places by bushes or trees growing into the path, so she pushed them aside and continued on her way.

The forest was silent. In most cases, that would be quite unusual, but not here. Not unusual for the Blackridge Woods. Eve could almost physically feel the eyes watching her, but she wasn’t scared. She had been here before, and she knew what to expect. Well, she couldn’t really say she knew exactly what to expect. She knew how her last experience with this place had gone, but she also knew that the Blackridge Woods were usually an unusual place. Here, one should never pretend like they knew—things could change in the blink of an eye.

Speaking of the blink of an eye—Eve blinked once, and it was almost like she was in an entirely different place. Had she been able, she would’ve refrained from blinking completely since she had entered the forest, but unfortunately, even the Fair Folk needed to blink. What previously would have appeared as a normal forest to one who didn’t know what it really was now bore no resemblance to any ordinary forest.

The trees were black and dead, the underbrush was much more thorny than bushy, the ground was all muddy, the sky seemed to be darker, and a dense fog permeated the area. Eve whirled around, looking back the way she had come to look for the physical boundary between the normal and the grotesque scenery, but as far as she could see through this fog looked exactly the same as the way before had. She took a couple steps forward, hoping to pass back into the normal area, but there was no change. Eve could feel a tiny sliver of panic creeping up on her, but she squished it down. Slowly, she turned to continue on in the direction she had been going, but she couldn’t find it. The barest semblance of a trail she’d been following before had disappeared. Every direction she faced looked like a carbon copy of where she had looked before, and she came to the realization that turning around had been a very bad idea.

Taking a deep breath to ease her panic, Eve picked a direction and stuck with it. She marched ahead, feigning confidence. If there was anything she had learned from her old friend Seth, it was to keep hold of confidence and a positive outlook, especially when there were creatures nearby that fed off of fear, which Eve was 98% sure there were.

In a dangerous turn, Eve let her thoughts drift. The confidence she was trying so hard to maintain made her think of the person who had taught her the trick. Seth Sorenson had been one of the co-caretakers of Wyrmroost for only a week or two before it had fallen for a brief period of time and then been reestablished with a new caretaker. Eve hadn’t seen him in…what was it, six years now? She was eighteen, and she was pretty sure the last time she’d seen Seth was when she was twelve. That was the same age she’d been when they first met in the first place, but it felt like they’d known each other a lot longer than they really had. The most opportunity they’d had to talk, which had been when he’d taught her that confidence trick and told her of many other adventures and such things, had been after they’d both attended the Dragon King Celebrant’s Feast of Welcome and had to walk back home. At the time, it had seemed like a terrible development, but now Eve considered it one of her fondest memories. Soon after that, something had happened and Seth had lost all of his memories, and Eve hadn’t seen him since (well, not exactly…).

She climbed over a large rock in her way, abandoning any foolish notion of keeping mud off of her hands as she used them to help. She dodged low-hanging tree branches and sharp thorns from both the branches and the bushes as she continued her rambling walk. In the past few years, her friend Kendra, Seth’s older sister, had become a regular visitor to Eve’s home in Terrabelle, even though she was no longer a caretaker of Wyrmroost. There had been a time when the whole sanctuary had fallen, but it had been safely reestablished. Kendra brought Eve news of outside happenings and occasionally the opportunity to go somewhere with her (and Eve considered any sort of traveling an adventure). Kendra had been the one to tell Eve about what had happened to Seth. Eve knew that Kendra hadn’t seen Seth at all over the past few years either. Kendra had seen him and spoken to him multiple times after the last time Eve had, but he seemed to have vanished off the face of the Earth since then.

What Eve hadn’t told anyone—not even Kendra—was that she had seen Seth again—once. Well… she was pretty sure it had been him.

After Wyrmroost had fallen (which Kendra had told Eve was partly Seth’s fault), the Fair Folk had tried to stay in Terrabelle, but their protections hadn’t been as strong as they’d thought, and they’d had to flee to the original home of the Fair Folk at a different dragon sanctuary—Selona. They hadn’t had to stay there as long as they’d feared, but it was while they were there that Eve could’ve sworn she’d seen Seth again. There were a lot of Fair Folk there, larger crowds than Eve was used to, but one day she had spotted a familiar face among them. It had come as a shock for her to see Seth there because that was a completely different dragon sanctuary and Seth didn’t know who he was and he’d just been at Wyrmroost—but then again, so had Eve and her family. But the Fair Folk had ways of getting around. Before Eve could even completely process the fact that she was seeing someone she shouldn’t be seeing, he’d vanished into the crowd. The rest of the time she was in Selona she had kept an eye out, but she never saw him again, and before too long the Wyrmroost Fair Folk were headed home.

Eve sighed to herself and continued walking cautiously. This was what she was here for, anyway, right? She came out here looking for adventure, and that was what she was getting. She tried to pay extra attention to the details around her to be sure not to miss anything important.

In the years since the last time she’d seen her old friend, she’d wondered plenty of times what had happened to him. They already knew that he was missing his memories, but the guy who had kidnapped him at first had lost him, and then he’d gone off on his own, but that didn’t seem like enough to make him disappear off the face of the planet. The most logical explanation was that something bad had happened, but Eve didn’t like to think about that. She decided to move her train of thought over to what she should be expecting on this adventure.

Eve’s surroundings seemed to be frustratingly similar to the exact way they had been ever since they switched over to creepy mode, but she thought she could feel a foreboding feeling, a malevolence in the air. She took a deep breath to remind herself not to get scared, and she looked for any physical change to go along with the energy.

At first, Eve couldn’t see anything different than the same thing she’d been seeing for too long now. She kept walking. But a dark shape in the corner of her eye made her do a double take. Through one particularly shadowy stand of trees, Eve could make out the shape of a stone archway, like the remnants of an old building. She stopped where she was and looked at it curiously. Stone archway! She took a step closer. The archway seemed like it might have been beautiful once, before it was abandoned in this unfrequented forest.

Seeing a completely random doorway in the middle of the woods made Eve feel compelled to walk through it. That would be a completely normal response for anyone in this situation. But she hesitated a moment and studied the archway. She could see through it, but she could not see past it. The trees, fog, and general darkness of the spooky forest made the other side of the archway look too dark to see anything over there. Wanting to go through it was a reasonable response, but in this forest, Eve was absolutely certain that there would be some sort of consequences. There was no doubt in her mind that this archway was magical.

She weighed her options for a moment. She didn’t know where she was or how to get home, the forest had turned creepy on her, and there was an undoubtedly cursed archway in front of her. Her most sensible course of action would probably be to keep wandering and hope she’d find her way home, although her chances of that happening were slim. She would probably die if she did that, but it was a better option than going through the arch, which, as Eve stepped closer once more, was definitely emanating a strong malevolent energy.

Eve looked around her.

She sighed.

She stepped through the arch.

* * *

_i’ve been chasing mercury and lightning_


	3. 2

Thud, thud, thud. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the large, dark throne room of the Under Realm. The fast beats were accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing and a living heart beating.

The footsteps squeaked to a stop. Nine. The footfalls resumed, continued for a few seconds, and then stopped again. Ten. The pattern continued.

Breathing was difficult, breaths coming fast and heavy, as Seth ran back and forth, back and forth across the room. He'd been running long enough that it was starting to become physically stressful. He could feel his heartbeat pumping overtime. But he didn't really want to stop. In this place, there were not many ways to get regular exercise—or, more importantly to him—relieve his boredom.

Sitting down here left him too much time to be idle—too much time to think. Alone in the dark was always the ideal climate for the bad thoughts to come back. He allowed himself to wonder for one brief moment—why had he thought this would be a good idea? What good did he think being the Underking would do for him? It seemed like he'd just been getting all the downsides and none of the benefits.

But just as quickly as the thought had come, Seth dismissed it. Dwelling on his past decisions would not help him. This was his life, and it would only hurt him to imagine that it could or even should be any other way.

He knew these things, but that didn't mean it ever really stopped him from wondering anyway.

Seth had had an unusual past and was still living an unusual life. His first memory was when he was already a kid, or maybe a teenager, which was not normal. Every memory he had since his first involved some sort of people chasing him, trying to track him down, trying to get him to listen to them, to be on their side. He figured that it would make sense for him to have a side, and maybe he would want to if people wouldn't keep harassing him about it, but he couldn't find out the whole truth unbiased from anyone, and now he didn't even really want anything to do with either of them anyway because they were bugging him so much about it.

So when he'd finally gotten away from the outside influences and gone to Titan Valley, he'd made sure to cover his tracks well. He'd come up with a game plan—to finish what he was there for and then vanish off the face of the earth. He wanted to disappear, to go somewhere no one would find him.

So that was what he did. He'd found Selona at that same sanctuary and completed his promise to Ezabar the prison guard. He'd found Serena the nipsie and left Calvin with her. And then he'd returned to the Under Realm.

Once he'd gotten there, Seth had learned that he was no longer prisoner to the Underking or obligated to do anything for Ronodin or the Sphinx and that Kendra was the one who got him out of those arrangements. He remembered how immensely relived he'd been at that. He didn't want to be around Ronodin anymore. Maybe Ronodin was the good guy; Seth didn't know. But he sure had been obnoxious to deal with.

Over the last few years, Seth had made sort of a shaky alliance with the Underking, who helped teach him more about his powers in return for some favors, though Seth made sure to be very careful about what kind of deals he was making. Eventually, after years of this, the Underking had revealed his true identity and extended an invitation for Seth to join in the line of Underkings.

It was a big decision, and one that Seth had spent much thought on.

His initial reaction had been no way! But, obviously from his current condition, his stance on that had changed.

At first, Seth had been horrified at the very idea of being the Underking. As time went on, however, he'd grown more and more open to the idea. Why shouldn't he? His powers had been growing exponentially, and he was probably even more powerful than the Underking at this point, if he even dared to think that. If they combined their powers together…

So he'd accepted. When he'd picked up that pitch-black crown that seemed to absorb every bit of surrounding light off of the crumbling skull on the floor of the throne room, he'd had a slight sense of dread in the back of his mind like he was doing something wrong. But he wasn't.

So he'd put on the crown.

And with it, he'd accepted the full weight of what it meant to be the Underking.

Immediately upon placing the crown on his head, he could feel the power in it. He had already been able to sense it by touching it to pick it up and even just being near it, but that had been nothing like this. This thing was seriously powerful. At that moment, any regrets or doubts he might have had about his decision vanished.

Now, he wasn't so certain.

Yeah, the crown was still powerful. So was he. He was even more powerful than before. But…he was bored.

He was bored, and he was lonely, and he wasn't sure anymore if this was worth it. Maybe he should try to figure out what was going on in the outside world. Now he would probably be able to find out whatever he wanted about both sides of the disagreement and get the truth.  
But…was that worth it either?

Did he even care about that?

Seth wasn't sure.

So he kept on doing what he was doing, spending all his time alone in the dark.

It wasn't all bad, though. Being the Underking came with some cool new privileges and levels of power. Now Seth was in charge of all the wraiths and revenants and zombies, and he could tell them what to do. This also happened to be where he got his information about the outside world—not that he necessarily wanted that anyway.

Being the Underking involved a bit more of having to stay in the Under Realm than just working for the Underking, but Seth wasn't completely confined. He still occasionally left to go on little adventures, but those always came with a slight sense of paranoia that someone from his past would find him and recognize him. Then the nagging and harassment would start up again, and he would never get away from it this time. Or maybe he would. He was the Underking, after all. He could make them leave him alone. But if that involved violence, he didn't want to do it. He would rather just have no connection at all to anyone he'd ever known or who had ever known him.

Other things that had come with being the Underking were secrets. Seth now held all the knowledge of every previous Underking, along with the knowledge of the truths of many unsolved mysteries and secrets that had been buried with those who held them.

He also now had much better knowledge of the Under Realm. It was vast, and part of it was designed into something like an underground palace for its ruler, which had gone untouched for uncountable years before Seth had joined. He had spent much of his time down here in the Under Realm just exploring that building, let alone the rest of the whole realm. He was sure there were still places he hadn't been yet. Sometimes exploring the Under Realm was just as fun as any adventure he could have in the upper world.

Now, as Seth slowed down his running to take a break, he felt a slight twinge in the back of his mind. Something was off. He frowned and tilted his head upward. What could that be? He considered it for a moment. He'd never had this happen before, and it didn't feel like it was something awful or urgent, so he decided to let it go. If it turned out to be something important that would manifest itself physically, he'd find out soon enough.

Seth sat down cross-legged on the ground and took a long drink from a water bottle that had been on the floor next to his throne. He liked running. It was good exercise, and he was pretty good at it. If he needed to, he could keep running for quite a while over some long distances. Practicing running when he was bored really paid off. Especially when he went on adventures in the upper world. Sometimes he found himself in situations he'd rather not be in, having enraged some sort of magical creature that he probably hadn't even known existed beforehand. Yes, running was definitely a useful skill to have.

Seth thought for a moment on the adventures he'd been on on his own. He could go anywhere he wanted. He always met a few interesting characters on those adventures, usually magical creatures who recognized him instantly as the Underking. There was no mistaking the aura of dark power that came with it. Most of the creatures he met were instantly afraid of him, but he always tried his hardest to be nice to them. He didn't want to hurt anyone, and he wouldn't mind making a friend. It had been a while since he'd heard a kind word or seen a smile. Sometimes the creatures would realize that he meant them no harm and slowly warm up to him. Sometimes they wouldn't. Either way, he usually enjoyed the company anyway.

Sometimes he met humans on his adventures. Once, he'd accidentally ventured into a human city. It was large and overwhelming, with many people and sounds and sights. He hadn't liked it very much. However, the experience had raised a question in his mind, one about his past. He'd probably been to places like this before—if he was human. Before he'd had his memories stolen six years ago. Since then, though, he tended to keep more towards magical areas like preserves or just the Under Realm. Sometimes he wondered—was he human? He knew he looked like a human, but so did many magical creatures. He'd also already had dark powers at the time of his first memory. He supposed that question was impossible to answer without his memories.

Seth wiped his mouth on his sleeve, noting with disdain the fact that he had spilled water down his shirt again. It be like that, he supposed. He set his water bottle down and got up to run some more. He'd been following a pattern with his exercise recently, running some laps with a break in the middle for water and then running some more laps for the running exercise.

Just then, a wraith entered the throne room nervously, stuttering a formal greeting and something that was probably supposed to be important news.

Seth squinted. "What's up? Could you repeat that but like clearer this time, please?"

The wraith shuddered and repeated itself. "There is a living intruder in the Under Realm."

* * *

_when i was young, i thought i would become_   
_someone different than who i find myself to be_


	4. 3

The instant Eve’s foot crossed the threshold of the foreboding arch in the woods, her surroundings changed completely for the second time that day.

She knew immediately that this place was worse than the last one.

She had expected this—she had expected bad things when she set out, and she had known that she undoubtedly should not cross through the arch. But she did it anyway because it was an adventure, and adventure was what she was looking for. This place, though—this place made her wonder if it was worth it.

She wasn’t in the forest anymore. She wasn’t even outside now. The other side of the arch was a hallway. The walls were a dark gray, and it seemed almost more like a tunnel than a hallway, as if it had been carved out of stone inside a mountain. As far as she could tell, there was no light coming from anywhere, though it was just barely bright enough for her to see her immediate surroundings.

Over all, the appearance of Eve’s surroundings did not give off a friendly vibe. However, more concerning was the _magical_ aura of the place. There was a feeling of gloominess and despair in the air. Eve could feel magical fear trying to press in on her, and she mentally pushed it back to the best of her ability. Even more obvious than the depressing mood and intimidating appearance was the unmistakable presence of danger. She could feel the danger from every direction.

Eve instinctively turned around with the intent to leave. She had already gotten herself into more trouble than she could handle, and this was way past just adventure. This place meant big trouble, and if she stayed, she would be very unlikely to make it out alive.

As she turned around, Eve’s stomach dropped, a sense of dread falling over her. _Of course_ the way out was gone. Any magical place with such an air of pure malevolence would not make it so easy for anyone who wandered in to just walk right back out. All right then, she supposed. If she couldn’t back out, she’d just have to go on through.

Pushing down the fear growing inside her, Eve cautiously started forward. She could see no other way to go, so what else was there for her to do? She refused to just stand still and wait for her inevitable unpleasant death.

Walking through the long, dark, scary hallway, Eve could almost feel the fear like a physical force. The darkness here seemed oppressive, like a living malevolent entity. She took a deep breath to calm herself and continued to move forward slowly.

It struck her as strange that there was no one here. Despite the fact that she could see no one, Eve could tell that she was not truly alone. The evil that she could feel in this place didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It stemmed from something—probably a living being. Whether the source of the evil was living or not, whatever (extremely cursed) thing that radiated all this energy so strongly was around here somewhere. And since she was now inside, she was trapped in the same confines as it was, even if it was a large space. The thought gave her shivers.

Then another thought occurred to her. It was improbable (but not impossible) that all this dark energy was from one being. The more likely explanation was that there were many, though that thought certainly didn’t make her feel any better about it. In fact, that made it all the more strange that there was no one or thing around. Eve did not feel comforted by the realization.

Despite all of the signs of her surroundings, in accordance with her own instincts, telling her not to go any further into this cursed place, Eve went forward. As she walked, the hallway did not get darker for lack of light or brighter with any new light sources. It stayed the same, but as she paid more attention, the light almost seemed to flicker across the floor as if it was coming from a torch, although there were no torches in sight.

Eve studied the hallway closely, looking for any rooms or passages branching off, but she saw nothing. It stayed the same. She wondered where the path went and what was at the other end.

She walked for a while longer. The hallway was disorienting; everything ahead looked the same, and everything behind looked the same. If she turned around multiple times, she wouldn’t be able to tell which way she had come from.

By now, Eve had walked far enough from the start that she couldn’t see it anymore. The magical fear and the aura of death and danger were as present as ever and seemed to be increasing at a steady pace. Eve was definitely getting the feelings she was supposed to be getting from those, but… in a slightly absurd twist, she could feel herself almost growing bored. Yeah, there was something scary going on here, but it was just a long, empty, boring path.

Just as she started to wonder if it really _would_ lead anywhere at all, something changed.

It was a very slight change, but it wasn’t difficult for Eve to notice after walking down the exact same hallway for so long.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were beginning to look nicer, more like a real hallway than a tunnel carved in rock.

Eve shook herself to attention, studying the difference where she was standing. She’d been walking long enough that she’d almost stopped thinking about it at all. This was new and interesting. It likely meant bad things for her, though. It was beginning to look like this hallway would lead somewhere after all.

She looked up and further down the hall in front of her and hesitantly resumed her walk. The further she went, the more it started to look like the interior of a real building. Eve started walking faster, taking longer steps. Whatever evil inhabited this place probably waited for her at the end of this hallway, but the suspense was enough to keep her going. She wanted to know where it went!

The changes in the hall became increasingly more noticeable. The ground turned from the rough, uneven ground of a cave to the smooth, polished stone floor of a nice building. The sides of the tunnel became completely vertical walls. The top started to look like a real ceiling, rounded high above.

Before long, Eve noticed that she could see something different. The hallway ended in another arch, this one with a closed door attached. This one looked just like the first one that had led her into this place, like it belonged in some sort of fancy and important castle, only the second one was not crumbling ruins. This one was obviously not abandoned.

As she got closer, Eve could see the designs on the archway more clearly, and she started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach. Engraved in the stone of the arch was a pattern consisting of tiny, detailed skulls, assorted bones, and even whole skeletons in some places.

Even without touching it, Eve could tell the door would be heavy. It was made of dark wood, the first thing she’d seen here that wasn’t stone. The door was in good shape; it didn’t look like it got used very often. Eve had seen some wooden doors that looked like they would give her splinters, but this was not one of them. Eve did not want to open the door.

Eve grabbed the handle of the door and, with some effort, opened it.

The door opened to a room.

This room, like the rest of the place so far, was dimly lit. Eve spared a quick glance back into the hallway behind her before she completely let go of the notion that she might turn back. She stepped into the room and, after a moment of thought, shut the door behind her. There was nowhere for her to go that way, and with it closed anyone who might have been behind her wouldn’t be able to sneak up on her.

Standing with her back to the door, Eve surveyed the room in front of her. There was a small, square table in the middle with four chairs around it. There was no other furniture. There were no decorations on the wall and no other doorways that Eve could see.

Eve scrunched her brow, confused. Was this it? Just this room? It seemed…anticlimactic. All of the bad feelings that had been growing as she got further down the hallway were worse than ever here, but it was a dead end. She went to the table and walked around it, looking closely at it. Was it some kind of magical object? Or maybe the chairs? She didn’t think so. Being a sort of magical creature herself, Eve was usually able to sense dark and light magic and where it came from like most magical creatures could. Eve stopped walking and looked up again.

Of course, just because she couldn’t see anything else didn’t mean there wasn’t anything there. The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. There was probably another exit she couldn’t see. She started to feel a little sick.

The magical fear, the growing sense of dread and desperation, the somehow obvious danger in an empty area—they were all starting to add together, along with the lack of exits, to point to something very, very bad for anyone trespassing (also known by the name of Eve). The darkness. The drawings on the doorway. Where was she, anyway?

Eve was starting to think she had an idea, and it was not looking good for her.

Suddenly, she felt a cold presence behind her. She was not alone anymore.

Eve whirled around and found herself face-to-face with what she assumed was a wraith, which seemed to have come out of nowhere. Despite everything, she couldn’t help but be a little curious. She’d never seen a wraith before. She opened her mouth to say something, but the wraith beat her to it.

“A trespasser in the land of the undead,” the wraith said in a haunting, whispery voice.

Eve stared at it and tried to think of a response. “Sorry.”

The wraith had begun to move toward her, but it paused at this. “The trespasser speaks in my presence,” it said. It seemed surprised.

“Uh…yeah,” Eve answered lamely. “Please don’t kill me?”

That seemed to remind the wraith of its job. “Trespassers must die,” it hissed.

Eve jumped back as quickly as she could. “No, thanks!” She didn’t want to die! She shouldn’t have done this in the firs place. What had she been thinking?

The wraith froze in place again. “It seems you will not die today,” it sighed. “Not by my hand, at least.”

Eve stood very still. She didn’t want to aggravate it, but… “What?” she asked.

“New orders,” the wraith said. “The Underking will see the trespasser. Follow me.”

The wraith started to the door Eve had used to enter the room. She followed. She didn’t see another choice. It seemed that the thought she’d had before had been right: this was the Under Realm. What a mess she had gotten herself into! “Why does the Underking want to see me?” she asked. “Can’t I just go home? I got lost.”

“The Underking does not tolerate trespassers,” the wraith responded, ignoring the rest of Eve’s statement. “Pray that he will show you mercy.”

* * *

_are we running after flickering sparks?_

_or are we grappling for diamonds in the dark?_

_the way we chase that mercury_


	5. 4

The Underking sat on his throne, crown on his head and neutral expression on his face. He was waiting for [wraith name] to bring someone who had been trespassing to meet him. Normally, Seth didn't approve of random trespassers in the Under Realm, but he didn't like to just let the wraiths and revenants kill them anymore.

Some of them ventured into his domain on purpose on some sort of quest, and he usually watched them through the eyes of the wraiths to determine their immediately shown character. Most he used magic to confuse and disorient before having a wraith show them out of the Under Realm through a passageway they wouldn't remember, but some made it past the first challenge and spoke with him directly. Those were usually the ones who could withstand the magical fear emanating from the wraiths and the Under Realm itself.

The bravest visitors would be brought by the wraiths to the throne room, where Seth would present them with a façade of coldness, sharpness, and everything the Underking was expected to be. He spoke to them, asked them the reason for their trespassing, occasionally investigated their mind and real motives. The whole time, he faced them with a steady stare and an unsmiling countenance.

That kind of represented a lot of what life was like most of the time. Seth didn't have much reason to smile often. He thought he would like to be a person that smiled a lot. He wondered if maybe he had been before.

Most of the people who made it to a personal conference with the Underking himself escaped alive. Sometimes, depending on the reason they visited, Seth might even help them with whatever they asked for. The audience always ended with Seth letting them go with a stern warning and a story of barely making it out of the Under Realm alive. He had the power to add unwanted intruders to his ranks of the undead, but he'd only done that once. It wasn't an experience he liked to remember.

Seth sat up straighter as he started to sense the wraith and living intruder nearing the throne room. He aimed his gaze across the long room in the direction of the large double doors at the entrance.

Over the last few years as he'd grown in his powers, Seth had learned a lot. He couldn't see in the dark, but now it was more like he just didn't need to. The dark was connected to him, almost like it saw for him. What the darkness touched Seth could sense through it.

The doors opened. Seth sensed the wraith bowing, and it spoke to his mind. _Here is the trespasser to speak with the Underking._ Seth nodded to the wraith, and it stood up and backed out of the room. The trespasser entered, moving cautiously.

Seth was startled to realize that she was a girl probably around his own age. He couldn't tell the details of any of her coloring; the darkness made that unnecessary. The shape of her face, however, he could see. He did not recognize her.

 _You may approach_ , Seth told her mentally. When conversing with the wraiths, he usually preferred them both to speak out loud. But when he was talking to uninvited visitors, he usually spoke to them mentally. It prevented them from hearing his real voice, which, in turn, prevented them from realizing how young he really was. They couldn't see him in the darkness, but his voice would be an easy giveaway.

The girl straightened her posture and stepped forward. Her eyes moved around, trying to figure out where to direct her attention, trying to see anything at all. It didn't help.

 _What business do you have in my realm?_ Seth asked her.

She tilted her head up. "I was exploring. I didn't know this was the Under Realm."

 _You didn't know it was the Under Realm, but you knew it wasn't somewhere you should go._ Seth thought she might have to be a little lacking in the brains department not to realize that, if not the Under Realm, this was at least somewhere different and extremely dangerous—not fit for a wandering adventurer. _You went further into the Realm even once it was clearly a hostile environment. Why did you not turn back?_

"The exit shut behind me," the girl said. "I couldn't go back if I wanted to."

 _If you wanted to?_ Seth asked, choosing to ignore the first part. He wasn't aware that the exits closed behind people who wandered in. He'd have to check that out sometime. _Sounds like you're saying you stayed on purpose._

"That's not what I-" the girl started, then seemed to realize that it _was_ what she. "Okay, I did kinda stay on purpose. I was just trying to get away from home and go on an adventure."

Seth was starting to realize that this was a different trespassing case than usual. Most of the people who dared to enter the Under Realm knew they were taking a serious risk and were doing it for an important cause. This girl was doing it…why? Because she was bored? Or she really wanted to get away from her home this badly? Well…Seth could understand her acting out of boredom. If he'd been in her place, he probably would've done the same thing. But he quickly shook off that thought. No putting himself in the intruder's shoes.

 _The Under Realm is not a place for adventure_ , he told her, feeling a stab of some negative emotion himself at the unpleasant reminder. _It's not a place to go on vacation._

"I know it's not a place for a vacation," the girl insisted. "I wasn't trying to go on vacation. I was _exploring_. Like going places I've never been before. It's—"

 _Well, you didn't need to come here_ , Seth interrupted. He cringed a little. That was a bad argument.

The girl put her hands on her hips. "Would you let me finish talking?"

Seth blinked, taken aback. People didn't talk to him like that very often. He could feel a smile starting to grow on his face. His first instinct was to squash that down, but she couldn't see it, and it wouldn't come across in his voice since he was communicating mentally. _Fine_ , he told her. He was starting to like this girl, but he wasn't going to drop the act. _Tell me why you're here. The whole truth._

The girl squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, which sounded a little shaky in Seth's opinion. He suddenly felt a little bit mean for trying to scare her. "Okay," she started. She seemed to be thinking hard. Seth took that as a sign to start paying close attention for lies. "Well, I guess it would've started with the fact that my parents never let me do anything. They keep me at home, doing the same thing in the same place with the same people every day. When I can, I like to get out and do something."

Seth understood that. He felt the same way a lot these days. Could he really blame her?

"Today my parents weren't home, though, so I left. I went to the Blackridge Woods by my village and just started walking."

Seth sat up straight from his previously slumped-over position at that. Was she serious? The Blackridge Woods were one of the most dangerous areas of Wyrmroost, a dragon sanctuary/prison. Any idiot would know not to go there. He'd been there once before, and it was just as bad as he'd heard. He'd gotten good use of his running practice getting out of there and barely made it. It was the most exciting thing that he'd done in a while. He started to nod for her to keep talking, but then he remembered she couldn't see him.

"That's a really dangerous magical forest on a dragon sanctuary, if you didn't know. I walked for a while; I guess I was just hoping for something to happen. But nothing did today. Until there was some point where some sort of magical shift happened, and everything got darker and deader and stuff. That's when I knew there would be something dangerous and exciting happening soon. But the thing turned out to be a doorway to here instead of a monster or something. I took it because I wanted to know where it went and why it was out there in the middle of the woods."

Seth was smiling. This was his kind of person. She hadn't ventured into the Under Realm on a quest or in search of fame and recognition, just to see what it was like. _You just wanted to see where it went_ , he repeated.

"Well, yeah," the girl said, her voice sounding somehow nervous and defensive at the same time. "I—"

 _I wasn't mocking you_ , Seth interrupted. _I believe you._

"You—you do?" the girl asked, seemingly taken aback. She hadn't expected that response, he'd bet.

 _What's your name?_ Seth asked. He was starting to think this was someone he'd like to be friends with. Of course, it wouldn't happen. Once the conversation was over, he would send her on her way (and he'd have to figure out some way to get her safely out of that forest). He was the Underking, and the Underking didn't make friends.

"Uh," the girl said, clearly startled. "I'm Eve."

_Well, Eve, I don't suppose you have any interest in joining the undead, do you?_

The girl, Eve, laughed a little bit. It was a nervous laugh, but her shoulders seemed to relax a bit with it. "No, not really," she said.

 _Didn't think so._ Seth paused for a moment, considering what he should do.

"You're not…going to kill me or something, are you?" Eve asked uncertainly.

 _Kill you?_ Seth asked, surprised by the question. _Of course I'm not going to kill you._ Now he recalled the fact that he was the Underking and people were scared of him. _He_ knew he wouldn't kill them, but _they_ didn't. He'd completely forgotten how other people viewed him for a moment because of this conversation.

"Oh, okay," Eve said with a barely-noticeable sigh of relief. "So…are you just gonna let me go then?" She sounded hopeful.

 _I'll give you an option. I can send you back home immediately, no consequences. Or_ , Seth continued, already wondering what he was thinking, _you can stay for a while and get a tour of the Under Realm._

* * *

_here in the darkness we relent_

_out on the porch with the government_

_everyone calls for a covenant_

_but nobody's drawing blood_


	6. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This week's update is a partial rewrite of chapter 5. I got the idea from AslansPrincess19 on ffnet, who said I should've had Seth pretend to be someone who works for the Underking instead of revealing who he actually is, and I figured why not? I like that better, and anyway, I'm mostly writing this because I want to read it!
> 
> Another thing- I am posting sort of progress updates with a date on my profile for when I'm not posting chapters and you want to see what's going on! So if you're ever wondering what's going on, there's probably something there! I'm working on self-discipline as a real character trait, including in my writing, so expect me to go back to weekly updates and PLEASE yell at me if I start skipping weeks again! Either way, the next chapter will definitely be up next Friday!
> 
> The last thing I have today is that I wrote an angsty oneshot the other day based off the headcanon that Eve's parents are divorced (which I got and adopted from lov_lyness on ao3!). I haven't posted it because I wasn't sure if anyone would want to read it. What do you guys think? Do you want to read it?

Eve froze.

She could feel her mind scrambling to get a grip on what was happening. The _Underking_ … just offered her… a _tour_ of the Under Realm?

No way was this really happening.

Her next response was suspicion. This must be some sort of trick. Why in the world would the Underking be offering a tour of the Under Realm? It wasn't some sort of tourist attraction. This was the _Under Realm_. She'd been surprised not to have been killed on entry.

Eve was suddenly aware of the fact that the Underking had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer. What should she do? She couldn't just turn down an offer from the Underking, even as suspicious and possibly deadly as it seemed.

"Umm…" she hesitated. "Yeah, that—that sounds good. I…thank you." She wanted to ask _why_ , but she couldn't imagine that would go over well with the Underking.

 _Wonderful_ , came that raspy voice speaking directly to her mind. _I will have an assistant waiting outside the door to show you around._

Eve fidgeted, shifting her feet. "So…should I just… go to the door then?" she asked.

_Yeah, that's fine._

Walking uneasily back towards the door, Eve frowned. That seemed like strangely informal language for a king to use. She couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. She was uncomfortably aware of the perfect silence in the room aside from the sound of her shuffling feet.

Just as she started to wonder if she would even know when she reached the door in this darkness, her extended hand touched a surface. Eve stopped walking.

A sliver of light made its way into the throne room as the door opened, seemingly by itself. It swung open, and Eve realized it was being opened from the outside. She stepped through into a wide hallway, brighter than the throne room so that she could actually see but still dimly lit.

She looked to the figure next to her, blinking in the light.

When the Underking had said "assistant," Eve had assumed it would be another wraith or other such undead creature, but the assistant appeared to be a humanoid being, like the Fair Folk were. He appeared to be a boy of about her age, with unkempt light brown hair that just passed his ears. His skin was pale, presumably from living underground in an environment with almost no light, but there were dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept much recently. This assistant, Eve realized, appeared to be alive.

His eyes flicked to hers, and he turned his head slightly toward her, offering her a small smile that almost looked nervous. Eve responded with a smile that she was sure looked nervous.

The Underking's assistant started walking, and Eve followed. She wasn't sure what else to do. This was undeniably dangerous and slightly scary, but now she was starting to think more about the fact that she was _getting a tour of the Under Realm_ than about the motives behind it. She'd gone out in search of adventure today, and this was an adventure, indeed. As she followed slightly behind him, she realized that he was shorter than she was.

Eve was startled back to the situation at hand by a voice from next to her—this time out loud. "So! That was the throne room, obviously. Or maybe not obviously. You couldn't see; I don't know."

"Wait—you can talk?" Eve asked, then immediately felt stupid. Why wouldn't he be able to talk? Most of the undead that she had encountered communicated telepathically like the Underking, but she wasn't sure this assistant was undead at all. He didn't look it.

The boy gave her a blank look. "Uh, yeah," he said, sounding a bit startled.

"That makes sense," Eve said, feeling awkward now. "I guess I was just startled because I was just talking to the Underking and he uses that weird telepathy thing."

"Oh, yeah," the assistant said, nodding. "That's reasonable." He paused for a moment before continuing. "It kinda hurts my head sometimes."

Eve started to relax a bit, feeling the beginning of a real smile on her face. "Yeah, me too," she said. "That telepathy thing is…" she trailed off, trying to come up with a good word. "Kinda scratchy on my brain."

The assistant just nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely kinda scratchy. Sure does a good job discouraging unwanted visitors." He side-eyed her.

"Uh… sorry about that, by the way."

He exhaled sharply, almost like a lame excuse for a laugh. "You'd be more sorry if you were trying to get something or fight the Underking or something. Or if you'd caught a different Underking." He waved his hand in a vague gesture at the broad hallway they were walking through. "And this is pretty much the Main Street of the Under Realm. This hallway gets you to just about anywhere down here."

But Eve was more interested in the previous offhanded comment. "A different Underking?"

The assistant made a ridiculous startled face, like he hadn't realized what he'd said. "Oh. I just meant like the last guy before the current Underking. His go-to strategy was undead-ifying anyone who was trespassing or trying to come to him with a good cause or just who he didn't want around in general."

"Oh," Eve said. "Then I guess it's a good thing I missed him." She grinned. "He must've just left right before I got here, huh?"

The assistant didn't look at her as he stepped through an open doorway on the right side of the hall, waving for her to follow. "This is the library."

Eve didn't fail to notice the fact that he had avoided responding to her joke about the last Underking. She wondered why the Underking would have a seemingly human assistant when he was literally the king of the undead, and why he'd even need one anyway. She was certain that there was something strange going on, but she couldn't quite figure out _what_. The slight nervousness she'd been feeling before was back, but she followed him through the door.

It really was an impressive library, Eve noted. It was a large room, with rows upon rows of shelves filled with books stretching high above her head, an aisle to access the shelves extending far enough that she couldn't see the end. Flickering torches hung on the wall next to the doorway and on the sides of some of the bookshelves lining the aisle. "Wow," she said. "That's a lot of books. Have you read a lot of them? Or are you allowed to?"

"Yeah, I'm allowed to read them," the boy said, a strange almost-smile on his face. "There's too many for me to have read most of them, but I've read some."

Eve nodded. "This is pretty cool," she said. "So…do you have a name?" she asked. "I'm Eve."

He glanced at her with a startled expression. "Um…it's not important." He turned and left the room abruptly. Eve frowned. This kid was the Underking's personal assistant but almost definitely not dead at all, couldn't have been much older than she was, and wouldn't even give his name. It didn't help her uneasiness with the whole situation.

She followed him back out into the hallway, and it must've taken a couple more hours for him to finish showing her around. The Under Realm was so much bigger than Eve had expected for a magical area that seemed to exist in a network of carved underground tunnels, and it didn't fit her expectations very well otherwise (aside from the dim lighting). It really wasn't as scary as it seemed at first glance; it was rather beautiful, the more she looked.

Over the course of the conversation, she'd learned a few things. The kid was definitely very strange and quite possibly hiding something (then again, what else could be expected of one in close relationship to the Underking?), but she didn't think he meant her any harm. He seemed friendly (and for some reason, he was starting to seem vaguely familiar), and she was almost certain she'd figured out part of why he behaved so strangely: he was lonely. She couldn't blame him.

The tour was mostly finished now, with only one place left on the list. "Here it is," he said. "My favorite place in the Under Realm." He pushed open a heavy-looking door, and Eve was surprised to find that it led outside.

Once she passed through the door, Eve could see more clearly that it wasn't actually outside but a vast cavern, full of plants and lit by glowing crystals growing from the walls and ceiling. It wasn't outside—it was a garden.

"Whoa," she said. "This is amazing!"

"It really is," said the Underking's assistant, who was gazing into the garden room as if this was his first time seeing it too. He started walking again, heading over to sit down on a bench underneath a tree off the main path that wound through the cavern. Eve sat down next to him.

"How does all this stuff grow down here?" she asked. She couldn't see very far into the room from the front; the depth of the room was obscured by trees. From where she was sitting, she could see a little ways down the path, but not very far because it curved so her line of sight was blocked. The stretch that she could see was lined by the same type of large trees as the one she was sitting under and a variety of other types of trees; bushes of different shapes and sizes and colors, some bearing flowers and what looked like types of berries; and some lone flowers and other assorted plants.

"I think they're special types of plants that are more fit for this environment," the boy said. "But I know they get light from those." He gestured to the softly glowing crystals.

Eve nodded, looking at the crystals for a moment, and then back at him. She could almost swear she'd seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't figure out where, and it was driving her crazy. Why would she think she recognized a resident of the Under Realm? She tried to brush it off, but she just couldn't shake the feeling.

"I like to come sit here sometimes. It…almost feels like outside," the boy told her. "And the wraiths and guys tend to stay away from it, so it's a nice spot to avoid them if I want to."

"I bet it'd be a good hide-and-seek spot then, huh?" Eve joked.

The assistant actually laughed at that, though it wasn't very loud or enthusiastic, looking over at her and making eye contact, which had been a rare occurrence on this tour.

In that moment, Eve had a realization. The tone of voice, the facial expressions, the dark brown eyes, the laugh, and that smile (she hadn't seen it in years, but she'd recognize it anywhere) paired with the hidden and difficult-to-access location of the Under Realm, the fact that no one had seen him for years, and the dark abilities perfectly suited for such a position…

"Seth?"

* * *

_i dig into the folds of my mind_

_scavenging the cracks sometimes for answers_

_but hope is not, as i have come to find,_

_something that you understand-but a trust_


	7. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can't remember if I've said before, but all of the song lyrics at the end of the chapters (at least so far) are by John Mark McMillan! This story is named after a song of his by the same name, and the themes in the album Mercury & Lightning relate heavily. So if you're interested in my thought process and inspiration for this story at all, you should check those out!

Seth recoiled like he'd been punched. "You—you know me?"

Eve's eyes widened into a startled expression. "I mean—well, I used to, at least. A little bit."

"Why didn't you say that before?"

"I didn't know! I didn't recognize you until just now."

Seth couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that someone he knew had found him _again_. Why did this keep happening? He covered his face. "I guess now you're going to try to get me to join your side, aren't you?"

"Uh, no." Eve crossed her arms. "What are you even talking about?"

Seth looked up again. "Everybody who knew me before just wants something from me. They all want me to believe they're right and join their side and help them. You're probably my long-lost cousin now or something!"

An expression of something that might have been pity crossed Eve's face. "I'm not gonna ask you for anything. And besides, I'm Fair Folk. We're neutral; we don't really have a side." She raised an eyebrow at him. "And _you're_ the one who brought me here. I didn't even realize who you were until just a minute ago. If anyone has ulterior motives in this situation, it's you." She seemed to be repressing

a smug look.

Seth stared at her blankly for a moment. She had a point. But… "You aren't going to try to tell me about myself? Who to be, what to do?"

Eve shook her head. "No. I could tell you about yourself—I mean, at least what you were like when I used to know you, 'cause that was a while ago, you know—but only if you want me to. It's not like I'm in charge of you."

"That's true." Seth thought for a moment. "Um… who are you? How did you know me?" He hoped he wasn't making a mistake by asking.

"I already told you I'm Eve," she said, smiling. "I'm Fair Folk. I met you a couple times before you lost your memories. We only knew each other for a couple weeks, but we were friends."

That word stuck in Seth's mind. _Friends_. A friend was someone who cared about you as a person, not what you could do for them. He couldn't remember ever having a friend. "We…were friends?"

"Yeah. You told me about cool adventures you went on a lot. I'd never really been on any before."

"And that's why you came here. You wanted some sort of adventure."

"Yeah, pretty much. I still haven't been on any big or exciting ones, really. But recently I've been feeling more…" Eve paused for a moment, seemingly thinking of how to describe it. "Restless," she finally decided. "There are so many things to do and see and places to go, and I'm missing out on all of them if I just sit around at home, y'know?" She looked up at him.

"Yeah," he said, looking at something in the distance. "I get that." It was quiet for a couple minutes, then he said, "That must be pretty nice…getting to go on adventures when you want to."

She laughed, raising her eyebrows. "I wish! I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to be at home right now."

"Oh," Seth said. He hadn't realized that, but that made her situation all the more relatable. "Did you sneak out or something?" he asked.

"Kinda," Eve said, suddenly looking a bit uncomfortable. "My parents…my dad is on a politics trip, and my mom probably still hasn't even noticed I'm gone."

"Oh," Seth repeated lamely. He didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Eve said, glancing away. "It kinda sucks sometimes." But when she looked back, she was smiling. "But at least it makes it easier to sneak out and go on adventures! I don't know what I'd do if I had to actually obey the rules and stay at home all the time."

Seth laughed. "And there's that!"

"So, how'd you get to be here? You're like the Underking's personal assistant, right? How'd that happen, and is it…" Eve stared upward, thinking. "What's it like?"

How should he answer that? He'd have to make something up, since that wasn't even true. "I mean… it's not really bad. I don't get treated bad or anything. I sometimes get to leave and go places, you know, kinda like adventures except maybe more like errands sometimes." Seth paused. Maybe he didn't have to make it up as much as he'd thought he would. "It gets kinda boring being down here sometimes, but I guess it's better than being by myself with nowhere to go or anything." He hoped that was a good enough answer and that she wouldn't realize he had skipped the first part of the question.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing okay," Eve said. "But don't think I didn't notice you avoiding half my question!" _Well, darn_. She poked his shoulder. "I'm not going to make you answer if you don't want to, though."

Seth blinked once—that was a surprising response. He'd been prepared for many responses, but not that. At least it was surprising in a good way! "Thanks," he said, grateful that she wasn't going to push it. "I don't really want to talk about it." Of course, it wasn't like it had been an upsetting experience that he didn't want to think about. He just didn't want to tell the truth (or lie further) about who he really was.

"That's okay," Eve said. "I was just wondering. But—"

"Hey," Seth interrupted, sitting up straight. Time to change the subject before she could accidentally find something out. "How did you get here? Was there a reason you decided to go on an adventure today specifically? And where'd you find the entrance? They change places sometimes." He knew the answers to these questions; he'd asked her already. But she didn't know he knew, and it would be a good way to get the focus off of him.

Eve seemed glad to answer. "There's a forest near my village. I'm Fair Folk, so I live on a preserve, so obviously most of the forests are dangerous. I went to the one by where I live on purpose because I knew it would be dangerous, and then…I guess it was kinda more like the entrance found me. It was just an archway standing in the middle of nowhere and very clearly bad news. So of course I went through it." She shrugged. "Sometimes you just gotta walk through mysterious and ominous portals, you know?"

Seth laughed again. "Just to see where it goes. Can't hurt, right?"

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Eve laughed with him but quickly put on a serious face. "I guess I was pretty lucky that this one didn't turn out as badly as it could've."

"For sure," Seth agreed. He tried to think of how to phrase his next sentence. Pretending to be someone different was hard! "I think…it could've been dangerous, probably more dangerous if you actually had bad intentions or tried to lie and say you didn't mean to come here or something. But I think the Underking appreciates a true answer even when it could get you in trouble." He cringed a little bit inside. Talk about not following your own advice!

"That's kinda scary to think about. That it could've gone worse. Good thing I told the truth and didn't have bad intentions in the first place!"

"Yeah, it is," Seth said. Now it was scary to think that he might've done something to hurt this girl in the wrong circumstances. She was so nice! She didn't deserve to be hurt in general, much less made undead. He wished he could remember being friends with her. "I'm glad you didn't get yourself in trouble."

"Me too." Eve looked at him cautiously. "You're sure you're not in trouble? I know you said you didn't want to talk about how you got here, and you don't have to; I just want to be sure you're okay."

Seth stared at her for a moment, shocked by the question. Was she serious? Legitimately asking about how he was doing? He remembered suddenly that she had called him a friend, someone who cares about another person without anything in it for them. "I…" he started, then stopped. _Was_ he okay? He hadn't really thought about it. Living in the Under Realm was certainly not his dream life, but it was a good opportunity and kept him away from people who had known him—well, mostly. The constant whispering of Underkings past in his head was pretty obnoxious, and the sound never died down, but he was better at ignoring them now than he used to be. He had everything he really needed. "I think so. I mean, it gets kinda old down here after a while, but I'm doing okay." He smiled at her. "Thanks for asking."

Eve didn't look quite reassured, but she returned the smile. "That's good to know," she said. "I haven't seen you in so long, I was worried."

Another simple sentence that felt like some sort of bomb. Worried? About him? Maybe having people know him wasn't as bad as it sounded. "There's nothing to be worried about. I'm fine," he told her. "Are you?"

He didn't know why he asked. She hadn't had her memories stolen; she wasn't living in the Under Realm. He barely knew her. But it seemed to be the right thing to say. Eve looked like she really appreciated it. "I mean…yeah," she said. "It's not like I have it bad. I have a really good life. I don't really have anything to complain about." She sounded a bit like she was trying to convince herself, but he decided not to push it.

"That's good," he said, nodding. "At least you're not homeless."

Eve laughed. "Yeah. At least I'm not homeless." She jumped up suddenly. "Which reminds me! I've been here a long time. I…probably need to go back home." She seemed disappointed.

"Oh. Yeah," Seth said, trying not to frown. It made sense that she would have to go home, but he'd actually been having a good time talking to her. "I can show you the way out. Open a door back to wherever you came in."

"Really? That would be great!" Eve frowned a little. "Do you need to get permission or tell the Underking or something? Or am I just allowed to leave?"

"Well," Seth said, again feeling strange to pretend to be someone else. "The Underking can communicate telepathically with everyone who lives down here. I can just tell him."

"Awesome! Thanks!"

Seth stood up and waved for Eve to follow. He took her to the edge of the garden cave. "I can just open a portal right here," he said, stopping. He set a hand on the wall, and Eve watched as it seemed to almost shimmer for a moment, then fade to darker than the already dark color of the stone in the shape of a door. "Here it is," he said, gesturing dramatically at it. "Your exit."

Eve had watched with a smile while Seth opened the gateway, but she wasn't smiling anymore. "Thanks," she said anyway. "But…what happens after I leave? Are you going to stay down here forever? Will I have to have another near-death encounter to see you again?"

Seth looked at the door blankly. He hadn't thought of that. He didn't want to never see her again. "Um…" he looked around, trying to come up with something. It seemed his attempts paid off when he came up with a real idea. "I know! Do you have like a coin or button or something on you?"

Now it was Eve's turn to stare blankly. She quickly searched the pockets on her dress but came up empty. "I don't think…" she stopped herself in the middle of her sentence, holding one finger up. "Oh! I got something!" She rolled up one of her sleeves, revealing a small brown button sewed to the inside with no visible purpose. She set to work tugging at the strings that held it in place. "I have an extra button here in case I lose one of the ones I need." Momentarily, she had managed to remove the button and offered it to Seth.

"Nice, thank you." He folded a hand around the button. "I can make this so that we can talk to each other. As long as you hold it in your hand, you can send your thoughts to me and we can talk telepathically." When he unfolded his hand, the coin still looked the same as it had before, but Seth could feel the magic now embedded in it. He handed it back to Eve.

"Wow!" she said, marveling at the coin. She slipped it into her pocket. "So…I guess I should go now, then," she said, standing still.

"Yeah," Seth said, also standing still.

Neither one spoke for a moment. Eve stepped forward and hugged him. "It was good to see you again," she said. Seth stood there awkwardly for a moment, then carefully returned the hug. Eve pulled back abruptly, spinning and marching through the portal without another word.

Seth stayed in place a little while longer, mind whirling. It seemed that he had a (not so) new friend, and she had a telepathy device now, so there wasn't really an option to just get rid of her. And he didn't think he would if he could.

He turned and started making his way slowly back to the throne room. There was a lot to think about today. He'd made a friend. And now that she'd left, he wasn't sure if he felt more or less alone than ever.

* * *

_beneath the shadows_

_of all that we think we want_

_is there a light we can't see?_


	8. Chapter 8

Back in the safety of her house, Eve sat on the edge of her bed. Once she had kicked off her boots, she collapsed onto her back, thoughts racing. There was so much to think about! She'd gone off into the Blackridge Woods in reckless pursuit of dangerous adventures and returned with knowledge of the fate of a long-lost friend.

So _that_ was where Seth had been all this time. Eve couldn't help but feel bad for him. She would've hated being trapped down there. Living in the Under Realm must have been boring at best and horrifying at worst. It was definitely not good news to find out that he was stuck working under the Underking, but at least he wasn't dead.

And he still didn't have his memories from before.

It had been about six years since the last time Eve had seen him, which wasn't long after the first time she'd met him. That was quite a while to be missing memories, but also plenty long enough to form new ones. Still, the missing ones would've counted for maybe twice as many years as the time they'd been missing, if Eve was counting correctly. If only—

Her bedroom door flew open, and her older brother Garreth stood in the doorway. "Mom said it's time for dinner," he said in an intentionally obnoxious tone.

Eve gave him a dramatic eyeroll and an exaggerated sigh. "Fine," she grumbled, making no effort to stand up. She was not in the mood to go eat dinner with her family.

Garreth turned to leave but stopped. "Don't think I didn't notice you were gone off in the woods today," he said.

Eve shot into a sitting position. "What?" She then attempted to adopt a not-suspicious attitude, settling back down, though she was pretty sure it wouldn't help at this point. "You can't prove anything."

"Your boots are muddy," Garreth said, nodding at Eve's boots, which were indeed muddy.

Eve stared at the boots, not knowing what to say. He'd caught her. She settled on "Don't tell Mom!"

Her brother laughed. "Don't worry, I won't," he said. "If you do my next load of laundry for me."

"You're so mean," Eve groaned, sticking her tongue out at him. She pulled off a sock and threw it at him. He dodged it and left the doorway, and she could hear his laugh fade in the direction of the dining room. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared at her feet.

Sighing, she climbed to her feet. She felt a sense of dread at the thought of attending a meal with her mother, a strange and rather unpleasant feeling that she'd only recently started feeling. As always, the feeling came along with the same thought: _I can't wait to get out of here._ She wasn't sure where she'd been longing to go, but she supposed maybe anywhere else would do. She was eighteen, but in Fair Folk tradition, their royal family tended to stay together in the palace—at least, for quite a while longer.

Trying to think of something to stall for just a minute, Eve recalled the button Seth had given her, snugly hidden in her pocket. It would supposedly allow them to communicate telepathically. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. The little brown button rested in her palm, looking no different than it had before Seth had done whatever he'd done to it. How was she supposed to get it to work? Did she have to do something? Just think at it? _Hello? Can you hear me?_ She cringed a little bit.

 _Yeah, I can hear you,_ came Seth's voice in her head, and Eve jumped. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh. _You just sorta think at it. As long as you're holding it, I can hear what you want me to._

_Got it. I just wanted to check to make sure it worked._

_Good idea._

_It seems to be working fine. But I have to go now._

_Oh. All right. Talk to you some other time, then._

_Yeah. Talk to you later._ Eve slipped the button back into her pocket. Time to suck it up and go to dinner, she supposed. She reminded herself that she was definitely exaggerating how bad it would be. Family dinner was a lot worse in her head beforehand than it ever really was at the actual meal. She took a quiet deep breath and set off for her next challenge.

The dining room was grand, a large room lit by golden light from lanterns in the corners. Red curtains covered the windows, and tapestries hung on the walls. The large wooden table could seat many more people than were in the royal family for diplomatic meetings and such. Today, there were no important guests or mysterious visitors, just Eve, her two older brothers, and their mother. The four of them sat near one end of the table, with the chair at the head open. That was where Eve's father sat when they ate dinner with him instead of their mom, or when there were important guests and they needed to appear as a functioning family.

Eve sat in her usual seat next to Garreth, directly across from her mother, who sat next to Eve's oldest brother. Everyone else had already started eating before she got there. Eve took some of the food, noting silently that this was not something she wanted to eat anyway. They ate in awkward silence, broken only by a couple attempts to start a conversation, which immediately fell flat. As soon as she finished eating, Eve excused herself, brought her plate to the kitchen, thanked the cooks, and then went back to her room.

She sat down on her bed again, feeling a strange, shaky sort of _something_. It had been a closely guarded secret within her family and a few of her parents' most trusted friends and advisors that Eve's parents had split up when she was younger. They couldn't let word get out for fear of public disapproval, but they had moved to opposite sides of the palace and took turns eating dinner with their kids on the days they both were home. It had been quite a while since it had happened, but it still impacted Eve's daily life. Today seemed to be one of the worse days, the ones where she thought about it often. At least she hadn't cried yet, she supposed.

Looking around at her familiar bedroom, Eve noted the way it was decorated just how she wanted it, her big and comfortable bed, the excess amount of clothes she had. The state of her room did not reflect the state of her life, which almost always but especially recently felt like it was falling apart. But she knew better than to take what she had for granted. Today's adventure kinda put that into perspective again. Seth probably didn't have half as comfortable a life as she did down there in the Under Realm.

Eve pulled the button out of her pocket again. _How's it going down there?_

Seth replied immediately. _Same as ever. Kinda boring, but not bad. How about you?_

 _I'm doing okay. Not much going on. Just finished eating dinner._ A thought occurred. Did Seth get food in the Under Realm? Well, he must to survive. But she wondered what kind of food they could get down there. _Did you eat already?_

_Yeah, maybe half an hour ago._

_Good! What did you eat?_

_Oh, you know. Just some dead bugs and zombie brains, the usual._

Eve gagged a little but couldn't cover up a real laugh. _That's gross,_ she told him.

Seth's laugh came through the coin just as clear as his voice did. _Kidding, kidding,_ he said. _I had a real meal. The garden you saw down here grows plenty of edible fruit, and sometimes we get stuff from outside, too._ He didn't say anything for a few seconds, then _though we do get a lot of dead bugs down here sometimes…_

Eve laughed again. _Please don't eat the bugs._

_Whether I eat bugs or not is none of your business. I will if I want._

_Then don't expect me to feel bad for you if you get a disease from it or something!_

_Wait, can you really get diseases from eating bugs? Ew. Maybe I won't then._

_That's what I've been saying this whole time!_

_Okay, fine, you got me. I won't eat the bugs. No promises though._

With an exasperated sigh, Eve told him, _That's good enough, I guess. A partial yes is better than a complete no._ She thought for a moment. _I'm glad I found you again,_ she said hesitantly, not sure how he would react to the reminder that she'd known him before. She'd been surprised at the fact that he hadn't seemed to want anything to do with his old life.

Seth was quiet for a moment, then _yeah, me too._ There was another slight pause. _Uh…if you wouldn't mind, maybe don't mention it to anybody else please?_

 _I won't,_ Eve said, wondering if she was making a mistake by that. _Besides, I'd have to tell somebody I went to the Under Realm for that. I wasn't supposed to be there, and now I wonder if anyone would even believe me if I said I went there and survived._

 _Okay, that's true,_ Seth said. _But thanks anyway._

 _You're welcome. And… I won't tell them, but I think you should know that you had—you_ have _—people who care about you and don't know what happened. Maybe eventually you can let them know._ Hopefully he wouldn't get mad about that. _Be careful and stay safe._

After another longer silence, Seth said, _yeah, yeah. I see you trying to tell me what to do. "Be careful." Like I'm gonna do that! And now I'm not anymore cause you told me to. Thanks._

A slightly nervous laugh escaped. Seth hadn't acknowledged Eve's statement about his family, but at least he hadn't responded negatively. _All right then. Go get into a dangerous mess if you want. Talk to you later?_

_Yeah, sounds good._

Eve pondered a good place to put the button, eventually deciding on the back of a drawer in her nightstand. Her family wasn't the type to go through her stuff, so she wasn't really worried about anyone finding it, but a little hiding place was a good idea, she thought. Better to be safe than sorry.

As she shut the door, thoughts rushed through her head. Her adventure today had led to good and bad—she'd found Seth, but he still didn't have his memories. And he didn't seem to want them back either. She didn't know what to say to help him figure it out, but she did know one thing she could do: help him get his memories back anyway. She didn't know how that would work, but she would figure it out.

And just like a light switch had flipped in her mind, a plan started to form.

* * *

_lately i've been thinking about_

_what's going to happen with you and i_

_i need a new religion_

_or i need a new lie_


	9. 8

Seth strolled down the main hallway of the Under Realm, no destination in mind. Every so often he passed some undead being or other, which usually bowed but didn't address him unless he spoke to them first. He hummed some made-up tune under his breath to accompany his aimless wandering.

Soon enough, he recognized that he was close to a good spot for a break. Up ahead at the end of the hallway was a real light, as opposed to the dimness of the Under Realm lit by torches and lanterns. Where the hall ended was the archway that opened to the outside of the Phantom Isle, the only consistent opening to the Under Realm.

Stepping out into the fresh air in the world of the living was one of Seth's favorite feelings. He stood on the platform for a moment, just appreciating the feel of the wind and the sound of the waves crashing against the island. He took a deep breath and started up the stairs to the top of the island. The sunlight warmed his skin like nothing in the Under Realm could. At the top of the island, he searched for a suitable spot, then settled into a sitting position on the ledge. The spot he'd picked gave him a view of the sun, up ahead of him in the lower half of the sky, moving ever-so-slowly toward the horizon.

The island was small enough that he could see the ocean looking forward or backward. It wasn't far in front of him, but it was much lower than where he sat. He watched the waves hit the shore, then go back out, then come in, then go out. This was another of his favorite ways to spend free time, sitting outside in the open air of the real world. The biggest problem with it was the fact that it wasn't much to do besides sitting around. He was still working on a solution for that. It wasn't a good pastime when he was looking for activity; however, it _was_ a good place to think.

Thinking was not one of Seth's favorite pastimes. It mostly ended up cycling back to one of too many things he didn't want to think about, things that were probably important and he should probably face—but he just didn't want to yet. He knew that he wouldn't likely ever want to, but what was stopping him from putting it off a little longer?

But that wasn't much of a problem today. Being out here probably meant thinking, but the negative thoughts weren't so prominent today. Right now, Seth's mind was on something else.

It had been a few months since a reckless girl had wandered into the Under Realm and shoved her way into his life as a seemingly permanent figure. He hadn't planned on Eve contacting him nearly every day through the button he'd enchanted, but he wasn't complaining either. She seemed to have been serious about them having been friends before he lost his memory, and she didn't treat him weirdly about it at all, even though she knew he didn't remember her from before. She never said anything to try to convince him of anything; they both tended to avoid talking about Seth's past before he lost his memories.

She seemed to be a genuinely good person, and he'd been surprised to find how similar her sense of humor was to his. He was always a little wary, finding it hard to believe that she'd known him before and had no ulterior motives, but he hadn't been able to find any evidence that pointed towards that in the slightest, aside from his previous experiences with people from his past.

He felt kind of bad about letting her believe he was just trapped as the Underking's servant instead of the Underking himself, but he wasn't about to give away his identity anytime soon. And, to be honest, it wasn't that far from the truth anyway. The voices of the other Underkings never quieted down—even now they whispered in his mind, almost white noise aside from the fact that he could hear and understand every word. They were currently complaining about being outside in the light. They often tried to convince him of things, to do or say things that were much harsher (or even more cruel) than he was normally. It could get hard to ignore them at times, especially because they were often his only companions for long periods of time. He'd taken to making a game out of ignoring or mocking them.

Still, having the obnoxious past Underkings as his constant company was not a valuable alternative to the companionship of real, living people. Seth had noticed himself in a better mood more often since he had made a real friend. He was looking more on the bright side of things, not letting the gloominess of the Under Realm get to his mindset as often, humming out loud more. He resumed humming again now as he just appreciated being outside.

The air was probably slightly cool for the outside weather in—what season was it, anyway? It might've been spring—but it was warm enough to radiate all the way through his body and warm his insides. Seth didn't think he would ever get tired of the feeling of sunlight. How odd was it for a being of darkness, the ruler of all beings of darkness, to enjoy the light even more than his own darkness? Yet he couldn't deny that it was true.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, leaning back on his hands, and wondered why he didn't come out here more often. He should make a list of things that were instant mood-improvers; he already had two! Having a friend and being outside.

Seth felt a mental nudge and recognized it as Eve reaching out with the button. _I just spilled pudding down my shirt and I am_ not _vibing,_ she said, and Seth laughed out loud.

 _Why would you do that?_ He asked, smiling.

 _I didn't mean to!_ Eve protested, laughing, and Seth felt warm like the sunlight in the way he could hear the smile in her voice. _It was an accident._

Seth shook his head, though he knew she couldn't see it, and added a disapproving tone to his mental voice. _I'll bet it was. I know how hard it is to eat pudding._

Eve laughed harder, which caused a snort, which made her laugh even harder than before, and that made Seth start laughing too. _Don't injure yourself,_ he told her, and she responded by starting up a new round of laughter.

When the laughing finally died down enough for Eve to form a real sentence, she said, _Thank you for your very kind commentary. I really appreciate it._ The breath she took to recover from the laughing was audible through the telepathic connection. _Anyway, today the chef made my favorite kind of pie…_

Seth listened for a while as Eve told him about her day. This was one of his favorite things about being friends with her; she liked to tell him about what she was doing and what she had done, and her vivid descriptions almost made up for the dullness of the Under Realm that was his daily life. She seemed to always be doing something new or different, treating every tiny activity as just as much of an adventure as she would sneaking out of her village entirely.

The way she made even the most boring tasks into little adventures was inspiring, and it bled over into his own life. He found himself appreciating smaller details more often. It was a strange new change, but a good one. And unexpectedly, whenever he talked with Eve, the past Underkings who so delighted in tormenting him every waking moment became quiet and still, the only peace they ever gave him.

They talked for what felt like a few minutes but was probably really more like an hour or two. The next thing Seth knew, the sun was already at the horizon, the sky was darkening around the fading golden light, and the warm air was cooling rapidly into a slightly-less-comfortable chill. Eve was saying goodbye, that she was worn out from a long day of little adventures and needed to go to bed, and Seth figured she had a point. He couldn't suppress a yawn himself as he climbed to his feet, rubbing his arms to ward off the cool breeze.

Now that Eve had shut off the button and gone to bed, Seth supposed he might as well too. It was getting late, at least late enough to head inside. He started the walk across the island and down the steps, and couldn't help but feel a little bit sad at leaving the fresh air outside.

He trudged down the hallway of the Under Realm, blinking wearily. He hadn't realized how tired he was. He smiled to himself. It was nice to be tired from a good day, not a stressful one, and he knew that would make it all the better to go to sleep.

When Seth reached his room, it didn't take long for him to get ready for bed. He noted pleasantly the bottle of water he kept for when he woke up and the darkness that, although colder, felt so much nicer on his eyes than the light. Plus, cold air and heavy blankets made the best combination for sleeping.

Today had met every mark on the checklist for a good day, all of which were still fresh on his mind. There was nothing better for the human soul than being outside in the fresh air and sunlight and spending time with a real friend. Seth fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, a smile still on his face.

* * *

_lately i've been thinking about_

_what's going on between you and i_

_i need a true religion_

_or i need a new lie_


	10. 9

Eve flew down Wyrmroost's main road on her horse, Freya, feeling strangely reminiscent of the night she'd snuck off on her own and found the Under Realm months ago now. She wasn't in the woods now, and she was on her horse, but both times she was somewhere she wasn't supposed to be in search of an adventure with a likely unfavorable outcome.

A thrill ran through her, feeling the wind in her hair and the pounding of the horse's hooves on the ground. Eve was a girl on a mission, and she intended to accomplish her goal.

Today, she was going to set in motion her plan to help Seth get his memories back. She'd spent multiple hours throughout multiple days researching, poring over books and scrolls from her family's library and the village library, anything that seemed at all helpful, and had come up with the shaky outlines of a plan.

Freya was on a path aiming for the part of Wyrmroost that used to be the Herdlands, from long before Eve was born up until the same week she'd first met Seth, when the Somber Knight, Wyrmroost's designated dragon slayer, had kicked the taurans out for supporting the dragons in the war against the human caretakers. It was now land fit only for the undead-and, if Eve had come to the right conclusion from her research, someone who could help her.

Eve ran through her mental checklist of supplies one more time. She had water and some food. Although she didn't plan to be gone very long, one could never be too careful. She had a map to make sure she knew where she was going. She'd opted to leave the button at home, just in case Seth tried to talk to her for some reason. He wasn't supposed to know about this mission either. Once more, the thought of how he would react if he found out about this beforehand tugged at her mind, but Eve shoved it away. No need to worry about it-he'd find out when the plan worked.

Luckily for her, the ex-Herdlands wasn't very far from Terrabelle in the grand scheme of Wyrmroost. She'd been riding for maybe an hour and a half, which meant she should have about another half an hour left to go. She figured it couldn't hurt to review the plan one more time before she got there.

She was looking for a local witch of some sort who she'd read about in her research. She was the most likely candidate Eve had found who would be able to do anything about Seth's memories-at least at Wyrmroost. She wasn't sure the memories were in the job description, but it didn't seem too far-fetched. If she were to look for a specialist, not that she was sure that even existed, she'd probably have to look outside Wyrmroost, which she wasn't sure how she'd do. But she wasn't picky, as long as it would get the job done.

Of course, she wouldn't be able to get assistance for free. Nothing was ever that easy in the magical world. Just like anything else, this help would come at a cost. Eve was prepared. She had a few bits of interesting knowledge up her sleeve that the witch might trade for. She knew things she wasn't supposed to know or talk about-details that she'd learned from eavesdropping on her father's meetings (even if they may only affect the inhabitants of Terrabelle) and a few details about the Under Realm that she'd learned from Seth (hopefully he would forgive her for giving them up since it was for his own good)-and ordinarily she wouldn't, but this type of characters weren't generally prone to sharing the knowledge they learned. Maybe to someone else looking for it with another price.

Sooner than she would've liked, Eve found herself arriving at her destination. The Herdlands used to look like it sounded-a vast expanse of plains, mostly, where the taurans lived. Some of them had built structures to function as homes for the weather. Now…

Since Eve had known what it looked like before the Somber Knight gave it over to be a domain of the undead (not that she'd actually ever been there; she was never allowed to travel much, but she'd seen pictures from her history books), she could see the resemblance to what it currently looked like. She doubted anyone who saw it for the first time like this would guess what it had used to be.

As far as Eve could tell, it still seemed to be a vast plains, but a heavy gray fog obscured most of her vision. Starting to feel a bit unnerved, she urged Freya forward slowly. Entering the mist felt very similar to when she had gone into the forest where she found the Under Realm. This was the domain of cursed, unnatural beings.

Doubts and second thoughts about the plan started to creep into her mind. What was she thinking? How was she supposed to navigate through an area haunted by the undead? Would she just assume they'd leave her alone? Why, because she was friends with someone who worked with them?

Eve took a deep breath and shook her head. There must be a lot of them here to be emitting such a large quantity of magical fear. She laughed quietly to herself.

The trick to getting past them was to reject the magical fear to the best of one's ability and to act as if one knew what one was doing. Eve kept her head up and encouraged Freya to go faster, attempting to look like she knew what she was doing. If she went fast enough, they might not even notice her pass by.

The place she was looking for shouldn't be too hard to find-and it wasn't. It was much sooner than Eve expected that she came across a small shack, the only structure remotely resembling a building in sight, that gave off positively malicious energy. This had to be the place. Eve dismounted and approached the door.

Staring at the door, the impression that this was a bad idea hit her harder than ever. She took another deep breath. _Obviously_ it was a bad idea; she'd known that going into it. That was in no way going to stop her. She stepped forward and rapped on the door boldly.

She was met with silence.

She knocked again and received the same answer. Eve frowned, then sighed. It wasn't like she was being particularly careful here, so why pretend? She opened the rickety door herself.

An old woman looked up at her from her seat at a small table in the center of the room with distaste in her eyes. "And why is my house being barged into?" she asked in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

Eve blinked. "Um, I need help, and I've been told you might be able to help me."

The woman just grunted and looked back down at whatever she'd been holding in her hands. So she wasn't going to be purposefully helpful then. Great.

Eve pressed on anyway. "My friend is missing his memories. Some sort of demon or something used magic to take away everything he knew, about himself and everything else, and now he just doesn't remember _anything_ from before that. He-"

"Save your voice. I don't care."

This wasn't what was supposed to happen. "I don't know any other way to fix it! I came to you because you were the only person I could find who might be able to help me at all."

The old woman turned away. "I'm not going to help you."

"But you _have_ to help me. I need help." Eve was aware that she shouldn't admit something like that to a person like this, but she was starting to get more than a little desperate.

"I can't help you, girl," the old lady snapped. "And even if I could, why would I?"

Eve startled back at the threatening tone, then drew her shoulders back and stood her ground. "First of all, that's pretty rude. And second, you could've, I don't know, just told me that? You could've said 'I can't help you' right at the start and I would've left and quit bothering you. You _should_ help me if you could because it's the right thing to do, but I don't suppose you care much about the right thing to do, do you?"

The witch cackled. "You're a smart one, aren't you?"

Eve's stomach dropped. She'd known this was a possible outcome, but she'd taken the optimistic approach and just assumed everything would go well. She silently scolded herself; assuming the best was never a good idea when it was of situations like this one. She eyed the woman. She didn't know what to say.

Fortunately, the woman continued. "Assistance always comes at a cost. You're lucky I didn't take your payment first without helping you at all."

Eve nodded. Should she say "thank you," or what? Wasn't that just common decency? "I understand," she said. She didn't really; she would never understand not helping someone in need, with or without payment. "Well, I guess I'll be going then, if you can't do anything to help me." She turned to leave, heart racing. No way would it be that easy.

And she was right. "You're leaving so soon? After coming all this way and interrupting my day, just for nothing?" The woman started to rise from her seat.

Eve backed toward the door. "Yeah, I think I will. Hopefully whatever I interrupted can be picked back up pretty quick. Good luck with that. Bye!" She whirled around and ran out the door, swinging it shut behind her, as the woman started to raise whatever she held in her hands. Eve didn't know or want to find out.

She hadn't had anywhere to tie Freya, but the horse hadn't wandered far. Eve sprinted to her and leapt up onto her back. The door to the hut creaked back open behind her, and, glancing back, Eve could see the old woman walking out, taking her time. As she told Freya to go, get away, she noticed what in her panic to get out she had not: hordes of the undead were approaching from nearly all angles.

Along with the slight sense of dread at the sight came a more pressing feeling of plain old irritation. She'd come all this way, and the witch she was looking for couldn't even help her, and now there were all manner of zombies and ghouls attacking her when all she wanted to do was go home! Eve scoffed and rolled her eyes, drawing her knife. Not much else to be done, she supposed.

* * *

_loud like lions and as slick as wolves_

_desperately we hunt the other animals_


	11. 10

Seth laid halfway off his bed with his head hanging upside down, holding a book about dragons in front of his face. He was at the point where the story was getting interesting enough that he almost didn't want to put the book down.

He was abruptly startled out of the fictional world when he realized he could see Eve's face very clearly in his mind, and it wasn't just in a memory. He quickly understood that one of the undead must be seeing her in reality, and he saw her through its eyes. But to see her so clearly and forcefully-he sat bolt upright. There would have to be a lot of them seeing her at once.

Focusing his mind on seeing through his subjects' eyes, he switched from the vision of one to the next to the next. They showed almost the exact same scene, Eve on a horse surrounded by revenants, wraiths, and zombies. Yet she was not frozen in fear. She had a knife out and was swinging it enthusiastically at whatever came within her reach.

Seth froze when he recognized another distinctive face among the mob, an old witch (who was technically undead but you couldn't tell from looking) with no name but a definitive presence. He knew of her, and he knew that she was bad news.

The presence of the nameless old witch and that many of the undead instantly told Seth where this was: an area of the dragon sanctuary Wyrmroost specifically set aside for them to live in. What was Eve doing there? She'd gotten herself into a pretty big mess.

Swinging his feet off the bed, Seth got up and hurried down the hallway. Eve seemed to have gotten herself into their territory fair and square, but Seth couldn't just let them kill her.

There were certain areas in the Under Realm where an exit portal to a specific destination could be opened, as Seth had done for Eve when she first found the Under Realm, instead of just leaving through the main entrance to the rest of the island and wherever it happened to be at the moment. The closest one to his room was in the library, which was where he was going now.

When he reached the library, Seth ran past a few rows of bookshelves to a distinct path off to the side that was hidden from the perspective of the entrance to the room. That path led to the cozy sitting area of the library tucked away in the back, with a couple comfy chairs and footrests and warm lighting. It was the back wall of this section of the room that held the portal.

Seth placed his hand on the wall and focused on directing the portal to the site of the scene he could still see crystal-clearly in his mind. Eve was still swinging her knife at the grasping hands of the zombies and wraiths, but she couldn't get away through the tight mob crowding her horse. Seth couldn't see the old witch anymore.

Stepping through the portal, Seth was instantly surrounded by the crowd of the undead. He waved one hand in a _stop_ motion that echoed with a power that ached deep within his bones. The temperature dropped slightly as the entire mob froze in their places.

The sudden silence was almost stifling, broken only by the sound of Eve's heavy breathing as she continued swinging her knife for a moment after everyone else froze. When she realized what had happened, she slowly moved her knife closer to herself as if expecting a zombie to lunge and grab it out of her hand, looking around to find the cause.

Every undead being in the vicinity turned their heads incredibly slowly to look at Seth.

Eve followed suit. Once she realized who she was looking at, her confused expression turned to recognition, then back to confusion. She opened her mouth, then closed it, seeming to be trying to come up with words to say. Finally, she settled on "What are you doing here?"

Seth ignored her, pushing through the crowd to stand directly in front of the witch. He snatched what looked like a knitting needle out of her hand. "What are you doing?"

She glared at him. "I am perfectly justified in cursing a trespasser."

A trespasser? Seth blinked once. If Eve had been trespassing, the witch _did_ have the right to retaliate. Hopefully she hadn't been. He turned to Eve. "Were you trespassing?" he asked, again avoiding an explanation.

"I-" she spluttered. The poor girl didn't look any less confused. "I mean, I was never told not to come here."

The witch's cold glare switched targets. "You barged into my home uninvited." Seth silently noted the fact that Eve seemed to have a habit of barging into dangerous and possibly forbidden places uninvited.

"I didn't come just to harass you or anything," Eve insisted. "I only came here to look for help. Usually people like you can help, and a lot of times the usual solution is to look for help from someone like you. So that's what I was doing."

The witch began to speak again, but Seth interrupted her. "Well, sounds like this girl had good intentions and didn't cause any damage or destruction or anything. We'll let her off with a warning this time." He turned to Eve. "Visiting a witch is a bad idea, trespassing or not. Don't do it anymore."

Eve had seemingly forgotten how to talk again. "I- You can't just- I didn't-"

Seth shot her a sharp look, and she stopped talking. Hmm. He didn't know he could do that. Maybe he should try it more often. "You," he said cheerfully, "are going to leave here and go home and not come back here. And you," he continued, turning to face the old witch, "are going to forget this ever happened. Are we clear?" He watched both women for an answer.

Eve nodded, still speechless. The witch glared, but she offered a single nod to indicate that she would do it.

"Great!" Seth said, clapping his hands. "Then I think we're done here." He waved his arms at the gathered crowd of the undead. "You guys can go home, the show's over." They slowly dispersed.

Seth started to walk, then realized he didn't know where the main road was from there. He waved at Eve to go, then followed the direction she went, walking alongside her horse.

"How in the world did you do that?" Eve exclaimed once they were far enough that no one could probably hear them. "Why can you tell them what to do and they just listen to you? You got that from the Under Realm somehow, didn't you? How?"

"I...picked up some stuff," Seth said lamely.

"Yeah, right," Eve scoffed. "I'm not dumb. That's not something everybody can just learn to do."

Walking just fast enough to keep up, Seth stared at his feet. Having a friend was cool, but the fact that it meant people would ask him questions was pretty lame. He wondered if she would leave it alone if he just didn't say anything. He tried to sneak a quick glance at her to see if she'd given up, but she was still staring directly at him.

"I dunno," he grumbled. "Why do you care, anyway? It's not your business."

Eve rolled her eyes. "You just stopped an entire mob of undead guys and talked a witch out of cursing me, and I want to know how you did it. You said you're the Underking's assistant. Does that mean you get some sort of powers like that?" She squinted at him. "Or were you lying about that?"

Seth blinked, startled. Was she allowed to just guess that? No way was that fair!

Eve crossed her arms. "You were lying then." She raised one eyebrow.

Seth whipped around to gape at her. How could she just know that? "I- how do you-" By that point, it was too late to try to keep up the charade. She'd caught him anyway.

"Your face, dummy," Eve said, almost laughing. "That was the guiltiest expression I've ever seen in my life."

Seth scowled. He'd have to work on that. "Okay, fine," he said slowly, scrambling for an explanation. Try to come up with a different lie? Tell the truth?

 _Don't tell her_ , whispered a voice in his head that brought the memory of things rotten and dead.

Whatever he said, he couldn't take too long. "I'm not working for the Underking."

Eve nodded like she'd already suspected that.

Seth nodded with her and said nothing more.

"And?" Eve prompted after a few seconds of silence. So much for a partial answer.

 _No one must know_ , they insisted.

"And what?" Seth repeated, shrugging. "That's what I got."

"And how did you do that? You still didn't answer my question!"

_And you will not._

"What can I say? Those dudes like me."

"That still doesn't explain how you made them listen to you! And that doesn't answer my question either! Why do they like you? They don't like people; they kill people!"

 _And you are weak because you do not_.

"Well… remember how I'm a shadow charmer?" Seth hoped that would be a good enough answer. If he was lucky, Eve didn't know enough about shadow charmers to know that they didn't inherently have power over undead beings.

He was not lucky. "Shadow charmers can't tell them what to do, genius." Seth opened his mouth to argue, but Eve interrupted again. "I've read a lot of books."

_Why do you tolerate this hounding?_

Seth sighed. His head was starting to pound, from both Eve's relentless questioning and the barrage of smothering darkness on his mind by the voices and powers of the Underkings.

She just wouldn't give up, huh? He would've found that trait admirable had it not been being used against him. "All right. It's not that. But I don't want to talk about it, and you don't want to know."

Eve sat back, and Seth could see the gears turning in her mind. Finally, she said, "Yeah, I _do_ want to know. I get that it's probably some sort of dangerous secret or something, but I promise I won't tell anyone! You can't just go and do something like that and then not tell me how!"

Seth suddenly felt a heavy weariness like he was much older than he was. He was tired of trying to lie about things and tired of _having_ to try to lie about things. Why _was_ he hiding it, anyway?

 _Why tell our secrets to a stupid mortal girl?_ the slithery, crawling voices challenged.

However, their challenge had the opposite effect from what they intended. _Don't call Eve stupid_ , Seth shot back at them, acknowledging them for the first time. _She's my friend, and I can tell her what I want to_.

To Eve, he said, "I can command the undead because I _am_ the Underking."

* * *

_i swear i've heard the echoes of a voice_

_like a dream that you feel but you don't remember_

_i've known it ever since i was a boy_

_like a word on the tip of my tongue_


	12. 11

Eve stared at nothing for a moment. She must have misheard. Had Seth really just said he was the Underking? "What?" she asked. Or maybe she had heard him correctly and he was just saying stupid stuff again. She was pretty sure that was something he'd used to do a lot when she'd known him before.

Seth nodded, with a look in his eye that seemed almost defiant. "You heard me."

Silence reigned for a long moment as Eve tried to figure out how to respond to that. She wanted to accuse him of making stuff up, but his tone didn't sound even slightly like a joke, and it felt somehow _wrong_ to say anything. "Are you...serious?" she asked slowly.

"The most I've ever been."

That statement, paired with the completely serious look on his face, came across as very true. Eve wasn't sure she could actually believe that _Seth_ actually _was_ the _Underking_ , but he sure didn't seem to be faking. And if he really was telling the truth… "You… you're the Underking?"

"Sure you're not hard of hearing?" Seth asked, and at the look Eve shot him, he added, "What? I did just say that like… three times."

"You did, I just… that sounds fake."

Seth snorted. "I know, doesn't it?" He laughed a little.

Eve, however, was not laughing. "Yeah, it does. I'm trying to figure out if you're legit." She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "I don't know why you'd say that if it wasn't true, but it also sounds _just a little_ ridiculous. But it does kinda make sense with how you did what you did back there."

"I am legit!" Seth protested, then made a face. "Is 'legit' a word? I don't think-"

"It's short for 'legitimate,' which means _real_ ," Eve informed him.

"Oh, okay. That makes sense." Seth stopped. "Uh, where was I? …Oh, yeah. To be honest, I don't know what else to say to make you believe me. You asked how I made all those guys listen to me, and I told you." He shrugged.

Eve nodded slowly. Solid reasoning. That was the normal progression of a question and an answer; she just couldn't wrap her mind around the answer to her question. "Okay, yeah. You've got a point. Um… how did that happen? Last I heard you'd gotten your memories erased and then just disappeared off the face of the planet."

"Well, I was in the Under Realm," Seth said, as if that in itself was a whole answer.

Eve took a slow, deep breath to try not to yell at him. "Yeah, I got that." She fidgeted with Freya's reins, trying to phrase her next question. "And… you've been there because you _are_ the Underking, not because you work for him?" It felt weird to even say that.

"Exactly!"

"So… how long have you been the Underking then?"

"Oh, only a couple years. They- I mean, I couldn't exactly do that while I was a kid, y'know?"

"Makes sense," Eve muttered. "What happened to the last one? Did he, like, die right while you were down there or something?" As her train of thought sped on, questions came faster. "And he had to be magical to _be_ the Underking, right? So how did he die then? Was he super old or something?"

"Uh…" Eve thought this might've been the most uncomfortable she'd seen Seth look this whole conversation, even more than when he straight up told her he was the Underking. "Can I pass on that one?" he asked.

"I mean… sure, I guess. I was just wondering." Eve looked back at the road in front of her, and she suddenly started to wonder. Maybe… could Seth have killed the last Underking? That would explain how he got the position. She side-eyed him.

He eyed her back. "What?"

"Nothing," Eve said, looking away again. No point in talking about that. "So… if you're the Underking… then you're in charge of _all_ the undead beings? You can make them all listen to you?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Seth said casually.

"What do they think about the fact that they _have_ to listen to you now?"

Seth tilted his head back, apparently having to think on that one. "I don't think they really mind it too much," he said. "They liked me fine before just cause I was a shadow charmer. Plenty of 'em just want to make deals and trick me, but they can't really do that anymore." He shrugged. "Besides, it's not like they've got a choice."

"True," Eve agreed. "You were already a shadow charmer before, but now… I bet you've got some cool new powers. Besides making them listen to you," she added quickly.

"Yeah, I do," Seth said, and Eve thought he might've been having trouble preventing himself from launching into a rant about his new abilities. The thought made her smile.

"What are some?" she asked and was instantly rewarded with the sight of his eyes lighting up like the question made his day.

Seth did end up ranting a bit about his new powers for a while, but Eve didn't mind. She was happy to listen to him talk, especially about something that made him happy. Plus, she was just glad to get to spend some time with her old friend. She'd missed him.

He explained plenty of things that _were_ really cool, and Eve couldn't help but be excited about it too. He could already talk to the undead before; now he could command them, sense them, and even sometimes see through them when they were other places. He told her that he'd been getting a lot of practice growing and expanding his natural abilities from being a shadow charmer, and the additional factor of Underking just increased on that.

She couldn't help but notice that he continued to avoid certain questions and certain subjects, but she didn't press him. Curious as she was, he had the right not to talk about things if he didn't want to.

They kept up a steady stream of chatter on the way back home. When Eve realized she could see Terrabelle in the distance, she reached the startled conclusion that they'd been walking and talking for a few hours. Even after that long (the same three hours as it had taken to get to the witch plus what must've been _more_ because they were moving at a walking speed instead of going fast), Eve was disappointed when Seth said he had to leave.

"Already?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, and she noticed that he didn't look very happy about it either. "You're almost home, and I can't go there."

Eve sighed but nodded anyway. "Well… see you later, then, I guess?"

"Yeah," Seth agreed, sounding much more confident about it than Eve felt. "See you later." A familiar mischievous glint in his eyes, paired with a wide smile, was at the same time slightly unsettling (because _what was he about to do?_ ) and reassuring in its familiarity. "Imma head out," Seth said. He turned around, stepped off the road, and vanished instantly.

Eve lingered for only a moment, staring at the spot where he'd been standing, then turned back toward Terrabelle and urged Freya to continue on towards home.

The rest of the ride would be maybe half an hour or less now, but that was enough time for Eve to get a good amount of thinking done. She found herself wondering just how powerful Seth was now. He had already been a shadow charmer, a very powerful position that hadn't existed in hundreds of years, and now he was one of the five major monarchs. That train of thought made her wonder if _he'd_ even thought about how powerful he was now. Knowing what she knew about Seth, he probably hadn't.

That thought made her smile. He probably didn't even realize how much he could do with his position, for good or evil, and if he did, he would probably just use it to play silly tricks and maybe help people who needed it.

Although, he was a bit of a different person now than he had been before he'd lost his memories. He wouldn't have retained any core beliefs or values he'd held before. But Eve didn't think he was _that_ different. Seth definitely seemed a bit less trusting, maybe slightly more subdued, than before, but he was very obviously still the same person. He still joked around a lot once he'd gotten comfortable with her, still talked the same way, still seemed to care about doing the right thing (as far as she could tell).

Which led her off on a whole different train of thought about what made a person who they were. Memories were obviously a big part of development, but some aspects of personality seemed to exist anyway. Eve continued to contemplate the effects of nature versus nurture, reaching home much sooner than she'd expected.

She put Freya in the stables, then dashed home, sneaking in by a side door. It was still midday; she'd been gone five or six hours, but she still wasn't _really_ supposed to be able to leave Terrabelle at all. Hopefully her family would assume she'd been somewhere inside the palace other than where they'd been or just outside somewhere in the village.

Eve began to make her way to her room but changed her mind and decided to make her way to the kitchen. She'd already had a long day, and she was hungry. She hoped that no one in her family would ask her questions about her day if they saw her, but she'd rather not take the chance in the first place, so she stayed as quiet as she could. Besides, she had plenty on her mind to distract her anyway.

* * *

_i don't wanna live like this_

_something's gotta give_

_i don't wanna be unhaunted_


	13. 12

Back in the relative safety of his home in the Under Realm, the rush from telling a secret in defiance of the voices in his head was all but squashed out by the clamor they raised in protest.

Seth squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at his head in a feeble attempt to suppress the headache he could feel coming on.

 _Shut up_ , he told them. _I already told her, yelling at me isn't going to change it, and I wouldn't just because you're yelling at me even if I could. Get over it._

It could never be that easy, no matter how much he wished it could. They kept on talking, reprimanding him for going against their wishes. Seth set off in the direction of the kitchen to go get some water, wishing not for the first time that he had a way to just turn the voices off.

 _Don't you have something better to do than judge my life choices?_ He asked them. _Oh, wait-you don't._ That started up a new round of racket, but it was almost worth it to get in that shot at them.

Also not for the first time, Seth wondered if he'd made a mistake in accepting the crown of the Underking. Would these voices be in his head causing major migraines for the rest of his life now? And even worse, what if he ended up like them? He didn't think he'd be able to stand that, being confined to a voice in someone else's head with nothing to do but sit around and complain at them.

But that was a problem for later.

For now he would get this glass of water and wonder about the potential ramifications of letting Eve know his real position in the Under Realm, also a possible problem he didn't feel like dealing with but one that would take effect sooner. He didn't think she would tell anyone else. Hopefully.

Eve seemed like someone who could keep a secret, if Seth had to guess, but second thoughts were making him doubt. He didn't really know her that well, did he? Although, he had known her for a while now, and she still hadn't told anyone where she was. At least that was something.

Glass of water in hand, Seth headed back to his favorite living room in the palace (which he liked to call the "dead room," because it was in the Under Realm) to find his headphones so he could ignore the voices better. Worrying never did anybody any good in the first place, and he could worry later if he needed to.

It could get tedious living underground in the dark at times, but Seth always found ways to adapt. He could sit and pout over his miserable circumstances, or he could do something to change the situation, liven up the Under Realm. He could always figure out new ways to entertain himself.

From an outsider's view, it may have been easy to assume he was alone and lonely, but only one of those two words really applied. There were many inhabitants of the Under Realm- not quite alive ones but inhabitants all the same. This made it considerably easier to come up with things to do.

Some of Seth's favorite pastimes involved playing tricks and pranks on his subjects. They didn't react quite the way they should, not as funny as he thought it would be were they human, but the confused stillness with which they responded was still funny in itself.

Sometimes he would try to just act as suspicious as he possibly could and see how long it would take for someone to say something, but they didn't often give in to that. The wraiths were generally too _respecting_ of 'authority figures' (how he got labeled an authority figure, Seth was still trying to figure out). Sometimes he'd read a book by himself, but that was less often. Depending on the book, they could be interesting, but Seth tended to have trouble sitting still and paying attention to words on a page for too long.

The activity that was Seth's favorite was the one he got to do the least often: leaving the Under Realm entirely to search for (or create) little adventures in the outside world. He was usually too busy running a kingdom; being the ruler of the Under Realm required more effort than he'd initially expected, but he handled it pretty well. But Seth loved to go on adventures. He loved the thrill of something new, going somewhere he'd never been before, seeing and doing new things. And even if he didn't get to do something new, he loved being outside with the fresh air and sunlight. He was remarkably fond of the outdoors for someone who spent most of his time (by necessity) underground.

Right now, Seth didn't think he had anything he needed to be doing responsibility-wise (at least, nothing he couldn't put off for a while without negative consequences). Mentally-wise, he did have something he needed to do: go outside. So he quickly finished the glass of water he'd picked up and jogged to the exit to the island.

The temperature picked up almost the very instant he stepped outside. The simple difference of the sun shining changed everything. Seth figured he'd go somewhere else, take a boat and see where he ended up; if anything urgent came up, he could just open a temporary portal back to the Under Realm.

Portals were another convenience that came with his new power. Seth wasn't quite sure if that was part of the Under King's powers or if it was his shadow charmer powers growing, but either way, it was insanely cool, and he wasn't complaining. He found himself humming some abstract, made-up-on-the-spot tune as he descended the stairway to the beach.

This was the time when some people would've begun to come up with a plan for what they would do from here. Seth did not.

When he got to the dock where the one small, single-person boat was anchored, he climbed in, untied it, and shoved off. Adventure was waiting! There was nothing Seth loved more than going on an impromptu adventure with no plans or worries about what would happen. He could deal with that as it came.

For now, while he let the boat take him wherever it would, he appreciated the sunlight, reflecting off of the ocean and warming him up, and the cool breeze that didn't let it get too hot. He could never be too busy for those things

Seth didn't have anywhere particular in mind to go, and he wasn't sure he'd know how to get anywhere anyway since the island moved, but lucky for him, the boat had an idea. It moved to its target destination with purpose, unlike Seth. It was a clever boat like the one Ronodin had used years ago- possibly the same one, Seth didn't know. Ronodin had abandoned it when he'd abandoned the Phantom Isle, and Seth supposed it had probably stayed right where he'd left it after that. The boat had been used plenty since then, but Seth had never seen Ronodin again (and he didn't mind that in the slightest).

* * *

_at the close of the day we burn and rave_

_we all feel the heaviness of the weight_


	14. 13

Eve found herself sulking in her room again.

She couldn't believe her plan had failed _that_ awfully! She got nothing _close_ to help, and she ended up having to get rescued. It wasn't even that bad of a plan!

...Well, that wasn't exactly true.

But that aside, now she was right back where she started. She'd have to come up with an entire new plan from scratch. At least, she supposed, feeling a little better now, she could cross one potential solution off the list now. That thought made her feel a lot better.

And Seth hadn't even asked why she was there, so she hadn't had to tell him what she was doing or come up with a lie! That was an upside too. It was almost absurdly strange for him not to have asked questions, knowing Seth was possibly _the_ most question-prone person in existence, but it made sense with him having been distracted by her questions. He had been too busy trying not to answer her to ask any questions of his own.

Which brought her train of thought to the other big problem at hand: the newly-revealed fact that Seth Sorenson was the Underking now.

Eve could still barely believe it. She couldn't wrap her mind around how or why he would've gotten into that position. It was a ridiculous amount of responsibility to rule a whole kingdom, and this would also make her human friend one of the five monarchs of the magical world. She never would've expected Seth to be the type of person to want anything to do with the Under Realm at all, even with the type of powers he had. Either she'd misjudged him, he'd changed, or something about the situation was different than she thought. She had a suspicion that all three of those options were correct in some ways.

But now she wondered what the implications of this were. For her, for Seth, and for everyone else. Her friend, who everyone else thought was missing and/or dead and whose whereabouts she was keeping secret, was also now the whole entire Underking, and she didn't know what to do with that. It wasn't like she was going to tell anyone, and she wasn't sure if she even _should_ either way.

And for Seth- that had to be a huge burden on him. Even if he chose that path on purpose and was enjoying his new position, being a king had a lot of work that came with it. Eve should know, being somewhat of a princess herself. The person she knew Seth to be was not someone Eve would think would handle that kind of pressure well, and that made her wonder who he was now. If he was still the same Seth she once knew, _was_ he handling it okay? She hoped so. She would feel awful to know that he was feeling awful under an immense amount of pressure. And if he was someone different, someone who didn't mind?

Of course he was different. When they'd first met, they were kids, so they were bound to have changed since then, even without all that had happened. With the addition of Seth's lost memory, which meant he would've had to recreate himself and his whole identity from scratch, and the fact that he was living in the Under Realm as the Underking on top of the natural personality changes from childhood, it was a wonder he wasn't completely unrecognizable. But he wasn't. He often seemed quieter and more serious, but when he was comfortable, he went right back to confident smiles and jokes and laughing. Just like before.

Eve noticed the laundry basket on the floor by her closet and went to work on putting her clean clothes away. No use sitting around being unproductive.

On the same train of thought, Eve knew that she herself was not the same person she had been when she first met Seth. If the positions were switched and he only remembered her from then, he would not remember the girl she was now. And that was okay.

Eve hung up a couple shirts, then folded some matching socks. Tonight would serve as a break, one moment where she wasn't working. But she had made the firm decision to do everything in her power to get Seth's memories back now, and she wasn't going to back down.

She would take tonight off to rest, since she'd just tried out her first plan and failed, but she absolutely would not let the failure discourage her. Tomorrow, she'd get right back to trying again. And she wouldn't stop trying until she either succeeded or couldn't try anymore.

Eve finished her laundry, feeling rather cheered by the thought. She didn't have to let one failed attempt ruin anything, and she wouldn't. Circumstances out of her control would not control her life. And now, because she was legally an adult, she was already starting to get new freedoms and privileges to leave and go places and do things on her own schedule, without having to ask someone else if she could. That would only get easier as time went on, which would make her efforts easier as they continued, if they happened to last long enough that that was necessary.

She hoped they wouldn't have to.

Dinner was a welcome interruption, even though a somehow-normal-now tense silence blanketed the meal. Eve was quite hungry after her failed memory-rescue attempt of the day. She'd been gone over lunch, though she had brought a bit of food with her. The physical exhaustion from horse riding for hours and the emotional exhaustion of attempting such a dangerous feat and ultimately failing combined to produce an _extra_ exhausted sort of exhaustion, and hunger came along with it. Eve scarfed down her dinner like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

She finished before anyone else did, so she quietly excused herself and put her plate in the kitchen. It seemed a better option than sitting in the awkward silence with an empty plate. No reason to stay if she didn't have any food and nobody was talking. But as she went back to her room to finally go to bed for the night, Eve wasn't upset about dinner like many days. She had barely focused on that at all, what with the day's events and all she had to think on. She was feeling good, actually excited to go to sleep and wake up in the morning and try again.

So Eve walked slowly going back to her room, already considering which books she'd start to look in tomorrow. Ideas for her new plan slipped through her mind quicker than she could process any individual one. She going herself yawning halfway to her room and sped up a little to hurry to get to bed. _No_ , Eve thought sleepily, pushing away the planning and ideas. Leave that to tomorrow. She was supposed to be resting.

And rest she did. As soon as Eve got back to her room, she threw on a pair of pajamas, collapsed onto her bed, and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

_i've been thinking about what it meant_

_you say that you never get used to it_


	15. 14

When Seth stepped off of the boat, he was on the bank of a river he didn't recognize. Not that he'd ever recognized anywhere it had taken him on one of his adventures- at least, not yet. He wasn't quite sure how it had gotten to a river from open ocean, but he figured that was the magic of a clever boat and a moving magical island and decided not to ask questions.

He anchored the boat the best he could by tying it to a tree and hoping it would still be there when he got back. And also that he'd be able to find his way back. It didn't seem like a very reliable strategy, but it had worked so far!

Seth turned around and almost started walking in a straight path before realizing that he should probably at least attempt to figure out where he was before he went anywhere. For sure pick out some landmarks that would help him find his way back to the boat, maybe figure out in what general area at least of the world he was in, if not a specific sanctuary.

Unfortunately, he could not immediately recognize where he was.

A forest stretched out around the stream, as far as Seth could see. Densely packed trees made that distance not very long. But even from the small area he could see, Seth could tell that this was no normal forest.

It was abnormally dark for this time of day, even more than it should've been from the dense foliage doing its best to block out the sun. In the dim light, it was harder to be sure, but Seth thought that the trees looked more gray than brown, and the branches definitely had more menacing shapes to them than those of most trees. And none of these were the most out-of-the-ordinary part of this forest: it absolutely radiated malicious energy.

If he had been anyone else, Seth would've been scared.

As it was, he was the Underking, and he was not scared (not that he would've been scared even if he wasn't the Underking!). He could create that same amount of dark energy and much more- easily.

He couldn't quite tell from where he was if the dark magic and the magical fear that came with it were coming from one being or from the entire forest itself, but either would mean no threat to him. Many magical creatures could give off profound auras of dark magic, unsettlement, and then magical fear that could amount to more irrational terror than one would otherwise experience in one's whole life. And Seth just so happened to be the most powerful of all the dark creatures. He could be a million times worse than this- if he wanted to.

But he didn't. He did not emanate fear unless he specifically needed to, and he had spent long periods of time debating with himself over why. The conclusion he had come to was that that was simply not _who he was_.

Having lost his identity only meant he'd lost what he already had. He still had the ability to make a choice every day to be who he wanted to be. Whether that was the same person as he had been or not was a different story. But even if he didn't know who he had been, he knew who he _was_.

So he set off into the dark and foreboding forest without fear of whatever darkness it hid. He was much worse than whatever was the worst force here.

There wasn't much to distinguish this particular area of forest, aside from the river. Hopefully there weren't many other rivers around here. He figured he could probably find his way back to this point if he could find the river; all he'd have to know was whether he was upstream it downstream from this point and then follow it back. And if he got lost, he could get directions from whatever magical creatures inevitably lurked nearby.

Seth carved a path perpendicular to the river, heading straight away from it. He didn't know where he was, and he figured any direction would get him _somewhere_.

Maybe he could try to find the source of the dark magic that clung to every aspect of his surroundings. Whatever it was, it made all of the living plants, trees and grass and moss and sparse shrubbery, appear sickly. The atmosphere seemed to be permanently dreary, with fog clouding what the trees didn't.

While Seth knew that whatever being had caused this- be it something that lived here or something that had cursed this place long ago- was something of his kind, none of this sat well with him. He'd always loved the outdoors, and it was troubling to see the plants and everything that made up the outdoors here so… deadened.

Frowning slightly, he was careful to pay attention for any signs of some other living creature showing up. He could handle whatever might, but he didn't want to be caught by surprise.

Seth took a deep breath and raised his eyebrows for a few seconds, then let them drop, erasing the frown with it. No way was he letting anything ruin his adventure. He felt his spirit lighten with the thought of all the possibilities that could happen on an adventure, and the almost-bad-mood disappeared just as fast as it had shown up.

He walked in the same general direction for quite some time, occasionally taking detours around more difficult obstructions. The whole forest seemed dampened by whatever force dwelt within it, grayed and muted. All the same, Seth was glad to be on a walk outside. If this walk was all the adventure he got today, it would still be worth it. He wondered if the dark being in the forest would confront an intruder, and if it would back off or try to challenge him once it realized who he was.

Seth was willing to write it off as nothing until the third time it happened: what sounded like a whisper floated through the trees. He froze in place, straining his ears to try to hear it again. His efforts were met with only silence.

In fact- it was _too_ silent. Only now did he finally put a finger on another of the factors that went into making this forest seem so wrong: it was dead silent. No birds singing, no insects buzzing, no small animals scurrying around in the brush. That was not reassuring in the slightest.

Now that he really registered it, the silence seemed oppressive, almost smothering. The uneasy feeling mounted. Just as Seth was about to continue walking anyway, he heard the whisper again.

It was gone just as soon as it happened, and no matter how long he stood still and tried to listen, it didn't come again. It had been indistinct; he didn't recognize the voice or know where it came from. It was almost quick enough to write off as a figment of his imagination.

Seth shook it off and kept going, but it continued to weigh on his mind for the rest of the adventure for one reason.

He could've sworn it said his name.

* * *

_in the cradle of the deep_

_did you say my name?_


	16. 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back B) I think I forgot to mention here that I was taking October off from posting to get my plan in order, but I have succeeded in getting stuff in order!

Eve sat back in a big comfy chair in the palace's library, holding a large book propped up on her stomach. She was researching again, looking as hard as she could for anything at all that might relate to missing memories. A cure would obviously be ideal, but even just a mention of a case would be good at this point. Her searching had, so far, come up empty.

But that wasn't stopping her.

This book was on curses and the beings that could cause them. Eve had read about a lot of interesting things she'd never heard of before, although none of them sounded like what she was looking for. She wouldn't allow herself to lose hope, though. Even if this book didn't have what she was looking for, she was having fun learning about so many new types of things. Eve could never get enough of this stuff.

She didn't read all the way through the book; it was far too big for that. But Eve did a sufficient amount of skimming to find out what each chapter was about and look over the pages quick enough to make sure she didn't miss even a passing mention of missing memories. A book of curses seemed like the perfect place to find it-

Although, that reminded her that she didn't even know how Seth lost his memories. What had happened? He hadn't told her, and she wasn't sure if he even knew. He might've forgotten what had happened to erase them with them. Maybe Kendra knew. Eve would have to ask next time she saw her. For the time being, curses seemed like a reasonable place to look. She kept reading.

Towards the end of the book, Eve found the only remotely relevant piece of information in the whole thing.

It wasn't anything big. It was a passing mention of a man with amnesia symptoms related to unnatural causes- but that was it. No in depth analysis, no _guesses_ as to how to fix it. It didn't even mention how he got it!

Eve couldn't believe how big of a bust this was. She was trying so hard, and she couldn't turn up anything? _It's not your fault there's no information_ , she reminded herself with a deep breath. And she knew it wasn't; it was just so frustrating not to be able to find anything! The rarity of the problem suggested an even more difficult solution.

Eve closed the book, just a little bit proud of herself for not slamming it shut. She stood up, and the book felt as if it might fall, as heavy as it was. Too bad that so many pages didn't offer her _anything_ helpful. She shoved the book back into its spot on the shelf with a mental note of the man's name so that she could look for more information on him next time ( _if there is any_ , the grouchy voice in her head grumbled).

With another deep breath to clear her head and calm the emotions threatening to boil over, Eve left the library. Halfway back to her room, she changed courses, heading for outside instead. Fresh air was the best distraction from pesky emotions. Just being outside was known to make pain from illnesses lessen and tears subside.

When she opened the side door she liked to sneak out of so the townsfolk didn't know exactly everywhere she went, the cool breeze that greeted Eve was just as good as she'd hoped for. This was exactly what she needed.

She strolled off through the village in the general direction of the Blackwood. She wasn't going to go into the forest, but there was a nice, secluded sitting area nearby that not many seemed to know of. Eve liked to go there to think.

It was well past lunchtime, which Eve and her brothers had been expected to get and eat on their own today. Eve hadn't- she'd lost track of time researching in the library. She'd gone in right after breakfast, so it had been quite some time. Eve's stomach made a strange rumbly sound, and she could feel how empty it was, so she figured she'd stop by a vendor on her way. She'd never been one to pass up the opportunity for food.

Which just reminded her how important her mission was.

Eve set aside that thought as she took the road to the market. The competing scents of food from different vendors wafted over her, and her stomach grumbled again. _Good thing I'm about to get some food_ , she responded to it mentally. The idea had already cheered her again.

She stopped and got a sandwich, smiling when the warmth of the bread heated her hands as soon as she took it. Not much better than fresh bread. Eve ate the sandwich as she continued on her walk.

Watching the familiar scenery of the village with a warm sandwich out in the fresh air reminded Eve that there really was a lot to be thankful for. Life was very beautiful, even when she didn't notice it. That thought comforted her- the world would continue to be beautiful, whether she paid attention or not. Why ignore all there was to see?

When she got to her little spot, she sat down on the bench right underneath a willow tree. She could hear water somewhere nearby, signifying a little stream in the area. She finished off her sandwich, thoughtfully watching a butterfly dance past flowering bushes.

Finally, she allowed her thoughts to return to the problem at hand- from a safe distance so she wouldn't get irrationally upset again.

So far, after all she'd tried, she still hadn't found any leads. Nowhere to look for clues, no monsters to go to to reverse the curse. No-

Well, she reminded herself, she did kinda have one lead. She'd at least found mention of one other person with the same problem. That was a discouragingly small amount of help from all the books she'd looked through, but it was better than nothing.

After all, she'd only been back at it again for one day. She knew she'd be back to it tomorrow, if not as enthusiastically as today. She'd make sure to actually eat lunch tomorrow. And she had a starting point now!

Things could've certainly been going better in her search for a solution, but they also could've been much worse. And Eve wasn't about to give up on finding a way to help Seth.

If she had to, she would move heaven and earth to do it.

* * *

_on the shores of the heaven-bent_

_with who i thought i was_


	17. 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I realized as I was writing the other day is that my time scheme with this story right now is kinda wack!! I'm going to have to go back and edit it at some point, but for the benefit of my people who are already reading, please just assume this whole day happens a couple weeks or months after Eve tried to get Seth's memories back!

It was a miracle that Seth realized before he got too far.

He'd been walking away from the river for a while before the thought occurred to him that if he wanted to find something important, it would probably be best to stick near it. With this change in plans, he was also grateful for the fact that he'd stuck to one solid direction so far and could pretty easily turn back around. The slight detours he'd taken didn't change the general direction, and he wasn't necessarily looking for exactly where he had parked the boat anyway.

So Seth went back to the river. He kept a wary watch for whatever he thought he'd heard in the quiet, but it still didn't come back. However, Seth found himself recognizing the places where he'd heard the sound ( _the voice_ , his mind insisted, but he wouldn't entertain that thought). When he finally got back to the river, he wasn't at the same place he'd started, but he could see his boat a ways downstream through the dense shrubbery near the edge of the river where he stood. Good thing.

If he followed the river, he'd likely find something more important than he might just walking through the woods with no destination. Civilizations tended to be built alongside water sources, so he was bound to run across _something_ if he stuck with the river, rather than the chance of wandering aimlessly for hours through the woods. Seth wasn't sure where he might find, but the boat seemed to have something in mind when he let it take him where it may. (That led him to wonder if clever boats had a sense of priority or purpose, if the boat had somewhere he was supposed to go planned out, but that train of thought was not exactly useful here.)

The babbling of the river was a welcome relief from the unnatural silence of the rest of the woods, even if it was just a temporary mask for the lack of life-induced sounds. Even this noise seemed quieter than usual, however, which made Seth wonder if the stillness really was for lack of life or if there was some force actively covering up the sound that did exist.

He glanced both ways at the river and decided to follow it upstream. Whether it really was a natural silence or if it was caused by something removing all of the sound, neither sounded very good to him. He would be glad to be out of these woods as soon as possible- though he wasn't sure that would happen at all on this adventure. It might be entirely inside the woods. Seth supposed that confronting some being in some creepy woulds did count for an adventure.

He wondered if the noise from the river would repel a silence-monster, if it would want to live where it could be actually silent. Then, if he was really looking for it, it would probably be better to leave the river, but if he was looking for people, it would be better to stick with it. But Seth wasn't in the mood for second-guessing and changing his mind multiple times; he was staying with the river now. Besides, if that meant avoiding possible evil forest monsters, that was all the better.

Since he wasn't sure what he was looking for, Seth treated the walk like it was in itself the adventure. And wasn't it, in a way? It was part of the experience. He was outside, not stuck underground in the dark (although, if he was looking for an adventure location based on good lighting, this wasn't it). He made a game out of jumping over brush and exposed roots. He picked up pebbles from the edge of the river and tossed them in, laughing when they hit the water.

Before long, the woods began to thin out, and more light shone through than before. Seth walked a bit faster, wondering what was up ahead. The forest continued to change noticeably. It took a while for the full change to become apparent, but when it did, it sure did.

Seth almost couldn't believe this was the same forest he'd originally entered. Here, the trees grew freely, the sunlight reached through their leaves and brightened the ground, and animal sounds were evident. It was a very nice sort of place for a walk.

And in his attention to his surroundings, Seth failed to notice a clearing up ahead until it was almost too late. This place he'd stumbled upon was almost like any other forest clearing, with the clear, noisy river babbling through, except for the stone bench halfway hidden within the trees off to the side. It took Seth a moment to notice that there was a person sitting there.

He instinctively backpedaled, hoping that the person hadn't seen him, until- wait. He recognized the girl in front of him. He would recognize that dark hair anywhere.

* * *

_in twilight we cling to the things that we know_

_where the hours end, i will look for you_

_my raging moon_


	18. 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of cottg, this story is now officially an AU!

Eve sat with her eyes closed, listening to the soft sound of the river, a gentle breeze brushing her face.

Quiet, peaceful moments like this were rare. These sorts of times didn't fit into the type of life Eve led, and she was fine with that for the most part. She absolutely loved going on adventures and finding small thrills every day.

And that just made moments like this all the better when they happened. The weather was nice today, a little bit cool but warm in the sun, just the way Eve liked it. The sound of the river was strangely calming, and Eve loved the way the wind played with her hair. She could sit outside for hours.

It might've been a half hour of pace and quiet after she'd finished her sandwich when Eve noticed something strange. She could feel a dark presence nearby, bringing chills to her arms. She opened her eyes and looked around, but the source of the darkness was not in clear sight.

Concentrating a little harder, Eve thought she could pick out the general direction it was coming from. What should she do? Try to confront it? Things could go bad with a dark being quickly, and she didn't have a weapon in that case anyway. And if this was something from the Blackwood, why would it dare to come this close to the village? All of a sudden, Eve had an idea about what ( _who_ ) she might be sensing.

She looked straight in the direction the darkness seemed to be, focusing intently. "Seth?" She asked, hoping she was right. If not, this would be awkward at best, a horrible mistake at worst.

The absence of a response was deafening, and Eve could almost hear her heart from how hard it was beating. She was beginning to think that she had been wrong and the dark presence might just stay there watching her when it moved closer and Seth stepped into the open.

"Hi," he said lamely.

"Hi," she said, equally lamely. Eve had not been expecting to run into Seth today. "Umm … what brings you here?"

"Actually, I didn't really come here on purpose," Seth said, shifting on his feet. "I wasn't expecting to end up here today." He smiled at her. "I guess I'm not really complaining, though."

Eve couldn't help but smile back. "Hey, do you want to sit down for a while? Since you're here. If you don't have other business."

"Oh, no," Seth said. "I mean, no, I don't have other business. I'd love to sit with you," he corrected quickly.

Eve scooted to the edge of the bench and patted the spot next to her for Seth to sit down. He did.

"How's life going for you?" Eve asked. "Any new or exciting developments in the Under Realm?"

Seth laughed. "No, not really. It's not super exciting there, but I keep pretty busy."

"What do you do in the Under Realm?" Eve asked before Seth could say whatever he was going to say next. "If you're the king … what kind of stuff do you have to do then?"

"Well, it's kinda more than I expected," Seth said. "Recently I've been moving some undead, giving them a new home in the Under Realm. I find ones that are bothering people up here and bring them down where they can live- well, you know what I mean- with others like them. And they like it better down there. They really do better in dark places. I guess that makes sense, seeing as the Under Realm was kinda made for them." He laughed, and the sound made Eve feel warm on the inside.

"That sounds really nice," she said. "Giving them a new home. Being undead seems … pretty lonely." She shuddered to think about what it must be like. A lonely, cold, miserable life. She felt a little bad for them.

"Yeah, they usually are." Seth shrugged. "It's pretty sad, but they chose that for themselves. Classic case of actions have consequences."

"Wait, they choose it for themselves?" Eve asked. She'd never heard about that before.

"Uh-huh. Well, mostly. They all started off as people, or other magical beings too. Most of them were scared of death or just wanted to live longer than they should, and they sought out this fate. A few exceptions are unfortunate victims of people running into the bad ones, the ones that are able to change others too."

"Wow," Eve said, considering the implications of that. "Huh."

Seth nodded. "How about you?" He asked, changing the subject. "Anything new or interesting going on for you?"

"Not a whole lot of news here either," Eve said, and she was telling the truth. "Although I think I have more excuse to be bored than you do."

They both laughed. "You got me," Seth said. "It's not like I don't have things I _could_ be doing."

Eve stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. "You mean _should_ , don't you? Don't tell me you're ignoring your responsibilities," she laughed.

With a shrug, Seth refused to confirm or deny it. "Like you don't ever ignore responsibilities!"

"I don't _have_ a lot of responsibilities. I'm not the one in charge of the settlement- or, say, a whole kingdom."

Seth rolled his eyes. "I didn't come here to be attacked like this!" He exclaimed dramatically.

Eve laughed again, realizing that she hadn't stopped smiling since he showed up. She didn't really want to. "So how come you're here? Any particular reason?" _To see me?_ The thought popped into her head before she even consciously recognized it. Her first instinct was to dismiss it. She didn't even know why it was there- but, she realized, she did. She knew fully well what that was about.

It took a moment for her to realize that Seth was talking, and she hurried to listen. "...left the Under Realm just to get outside for a little while. Sometimes I like to go on little adventures, you know? Visit somewhere new and also get out of the dark into the fresh air for a while."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Eve agreed, fighting off the disappointment settling in the pit of her stomach. "It must be-"

Seth started talking again at the same time as Eve did. "I sure didn't expect to run into you today. But I'm glad I did. I…" He seemed lost in thought for a moment, like he'd forgotten the word he was looking for. "Sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I? What were you saying?"

"No, you can keep going, it's fine," Eve rushed to assure him, trying not to smile too big. "I won't forget what I was saying in the time it takes you to finish yours."

Seth smiled at her. "I was just saying I don't think I could've come across an adventure that would have been better than getting to see you. I … didn't realize until just now that I actually missed you." He looked away.

Eve could feel her face heating up, and she looked away too, as much to hide the redness she was sure was there as the smile she couldn't crush anymore.

"So … what were you saying?" Seth asked. Eve blanked. She suddenly forgot everything she'd ever wanted to say to anyone in her life.

"Umm … maybe I did forget what I was going to say in the time it took you to finish what you were saying."

They both laughed at that, and Eve felt less nervous than she previously had. "I was talking about why I came here," Seth said slowly. "I left the Under Realm because I wanted to go on some sort of adventure-"

"Oh!" Eve exclaimed. "I've got it! I was just saying it must be kinda tough to stay down there in the dark by yourself."

"Oh, yeah," Seth agreed. "I'll take whatever chance I can get for some sunlight and fresh air. It can be kinda lonely sometimes, but it's not like I'm all alone down there. The Under Realm has plenty of subjects, even if most of them don't talk about much other than complaining. They're better than nothing. Besides, it's not all bad down there. It's actually really nice sometimes. I've got a legit castle thing, and that's really cool! There's a lot of stuff to do. It's only really boring if I let it be. I dunno, I guess … it's only as bad as you make it, you know?"

"I … yeah, I think I do," Eve said softly, looking away again. She knew as well as anyone how tough life could be sometimes. There were always difficult circumstances, whether they were problems within her own family or outside in an entire war. Either way, whatever happened would happen and all she could control was how she responded to that. She couldn't help but admire Seth's optimism about his situation.

They sat together and talked for a while, long enough for Eve to lose track of time. They talked about a lot of things, from small things like how good it was to be in the sun to more meaningful things like appreciating every little good thing in the bad parts of life. Eve told Seth about her family- she didn't mention her parents' divorce; she was never supposed to talk about that- but she told him about the difficult things, how she could barely stand being in the same room as either of her parents sometimes. Seth told Eve about what he did as the Underking and the details of some of his favorite adventures he'd gone on.

It felt like far less time than she knew it had been when Seth finally left. Before he'd gone, he invited her to come back and visit the Under Realm again sometime. Eve had immediately agreed. She already couldn't wait to see him again, and any excuse to get out of her house was good enough for her.

When Eve went to bed that night, a warm feeling embedded in her heart, she wondered what it meant for her that she was already missing Seth again. She knew the implications of that, and she fell asleep wondering what it meant to be in love.

* * *

_conflicted by the goodness in the love we know_

_afflicted by the weight of all the pain we sow_


	19. 18

The portal leading to what Seth now knew as the Blackridge Woods was open, leading into the library room, which was where he now sat in a very comfortable chair. Today was the day he and Eve had agreed upon while talking through the coin for her to come visit the Under Realm again, so now he was waiting for her to show up. He'd let her know when he opened the portal and then come here to wait. He had no idea how long it would take her to get there.

It had been nearly five months since the last time they'd seen each other- way too long in Seth's opinion, but this was the first chance Eve had to leave. Most of the time her parents kept her under pretty strict watch, unless they were away from home for some reason.

He thought briefly back to the last time they'd talked. They'd spent most of the day just sitting and talking, which was surprisingly nice for such a boring-sounding activity. Seth thought about the last time he'd been in the woods, when he'd thought he'd heard a strange voice calling him by name. He'd mentioned it to Eve that day, and she had warned him that Blackridge was unpredictable in every aspect except the fact that whatever happened there would be bad. The beings that lived there would play all kinds of tricks on the mind, trying to lure unsuspecting victims into their clutches.

He'd been glad to get back through the forest to his way back home without incident after that (and he was perfectly happy not to enter that forest again unless absolutely necessary).

The thought made him worry for Eve a bit. She was going through that same forest right now; what if something happened to her? He reminded himself that Eve had done this before and been fine, and she was pretty capable anyway. She'd probably be fine.

Still, he'd feel a lot better about it once she got there.

Seth couldn't be sure how long he waited- time was weird in the Under Realm- but eventually, Eve showed up, safe and sound. She took another ridiculously comfortable chair close by, and they spent a while the same way as they had the last time.

It was strange, Seth noted, that he had trouble looking at her sometimes. She made him smile a lot more than he was used to, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. All he really was sure of was that he really enjoyed her company.

They talked about some familiar themes and some new. Eve complained a bit about her family, and though there wasn't much Seth wished he had more, her discontentment seemed to him to be very much justified. He wished he knew how to fix that sort of thing for her. It surprised him to realize how much it bothered him to see her upset.

After a while of talking, Seth decided to take Eve on some of his favorite Under Realm adventures.

The very first thing they did, Seth's favorite pastime, was attempt pranks on his undead subjects. Due to the fact that it was Seth's favorite pastime, most of them had come to expect it, but that just made it more fun for him to come up with new ways to surprise them. It even worked sometimes! It turned out that Eve was also a fan of pranks, and she helped Seth come up with a few good ideas that he wouldn't have thought of on his own.

Seth showed Eve some of the bigger places in the Under Realm outside of the palace. There weren't many, by nature of the undead tending to be miserable and unfriendly, but Seth had done his best to lighten the place up since he'd lived there.

They passed by the river, which Seth usually avoided. The water was pitch black, didn't reflect light (or, because of that, images), and occasionally appeared to have faces in it. Seth wasn't entirely sure, but he thought they might be some sort of dead souls stuck there. Either way, the river was creepy, and he wanted nothing to do with it.

The one good thing about the river, however, was that it ran through the garden room and kept the plants alive. The garden room was where Seth and Eve ended up at the end of the day.

Walking into the room, somewhat worn out from running around, Seth marveled at the plants again. It was crazy to him how anything could grow down here, which he noted out loud.

"It's not so strange," Eve disagreed. "Different kinds of plants grow in different environments. And now that I think about it, that goes for people too." She tilted her head. "You live down here, and you're still living and growing. And honestly, I'm very glad about that."

Seth smiled and was surprised to find that it hurt his face a little. He'd done a lot more smiling today than usual. He couldn't say he minded. "Thanks," he said awkwardly. He wasn't sure what else to say. "Me too."

Eve laughed- a cheerful sound that seemed to carry a light that fought back against the darkness of this Realm. Seth could almost imagine it physically brightening the room. "And for that matter," Eve said, "I'm really glad we met again. I'm glad I accidentally ran into the Under Realm that one day. That sounds weird to say. Running into the Under Realm wouldn't be a good thing for most people." She laughed again. She laughed a lot. Seth liked that about her. "By the way, thanks for not killing me or something that time."

"You're welcome," Seth said. He could feel a small smile pulling at his face, and he couldn't take his eyes off her. "I'm glad you showed up too." He paused for a moment, then added, "I wouldn't have killed you anyway. Even if you didn't have a good excuse." He wasn't sure why, but he just wanted her to know that. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't been glad to let them think that and keep up the Underking's fearsome reputation, but he wanted Eve to know.

She didn't respond immediately, just looked at him with a strange expression. Seth held her gaze, hoping she wouldn't notice how nervous he was. Finally, she smiled a little. "Good to know," she said.

"Yeah." Once again, Seth couldn't think of anything to say. He waited to see if Eve was going to say anything- neither one had looked away yet- but she might've been waiting for the same thing.

"I guess…" Seth started, not even wanting to finish what he was saying. "You've been here a while. Is someone going to notice you're gone?"

Eve nodded slowly. "That's a good point. Yeah, probably eventually." She sighed, and Seth regretted bringing it up even more. "How long have I been here?"

"Uhh…" Seth didn't know. He didn't have a watch or a clock or anything, and even if he did, he wasn't sure how it would match up to normal time in the living world.

"All right," Eve laughed, that pretty smile back on her face. "I guess it's a safe bet that I've been here a while and should probably go home pretty soon." She made no move to get up.

"I guess it is," Seth agreed. He also didn't move.

Eve looked at him. "Well," she said, but she didn't add anything. With another sigh, she looked away, then back. She slowly, almost carefully, held her arms out for a hug. "Thanks for inviting me," she said as Seth wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm glad you came," said Seth, and he was.

They stayed like that for a moment longer before Seth pulled back, somewhat reluctantly. He didn't really want to let go. He told himself it was just because she was warm (the warmest thing in the Under Realm, to be honest).

"Well-" Eve started, but she was interrupted. A cold presence had come up on them, chilling both of them.

 _Excuse me, Your Majesty, but there's been a problem_ , it said. So with a quick parting wave and word of explanation to Eve, Seth followed the phantom out of the room.

* * *

_fr_ _agile frames fumble in the mystery_

_afraid to be exposed while we pretend to be_

_something more than what we are_

_fools in love with punch drunk hearts_

_mystified by everything we see_


	20. 19

Eve remained seated, startled. She sure hadn't expected that.

The portal was open in front of her, and she knew her way home, but she was reluctant to go. She knew she'd probably been gone too long already, but that just made her dread returning even more. Her dad would kill her for this- the rule was unspoken, but she wasn't exactly encouraged to leave the palace at all, let alone Terrabelle entirely.

She frowned in the direction of the main door to the garden room. She wished she'd gotten to properly say goodbye to Seth. She missed him already.

 _Oh, well_ , she thought. She was going to have to go home at some point. Might as well get it over with. _Be brave_ , she told herself. _You can do this_. She knew she could, but she really didn't want to.

Then, an idea crossed her mind.

A bad idea. Only delaying the inevitable. But…

Seth hadn't explicitly told her she had to leave, had he? What if she stayed just a little bit longer?

Eve knew already that this was not one of her best ideas, and she also knew she was going to carry it out.

With a backwards glance at the portal, hoping she wouldn't cause any trouble by leaving it open, Eve started slowly towards the other end of the garden. If she were to stay longer, she knew exactly where she wanted to be: the library.

She walked much slower than her normal pace, just in case anyone was still in the room. She stopped a couple times to look more closely at specific plants she hadn't noticed before when she was too busy noticing Seth. One flower in particular caught her eye- smaller than most of the other flowers on the plants, with delicate pale blue petals. She picked one to take with her, tucking it into her hair behind her ear.

When she got to the doorway, she waited for a couple minutes to be sure the hallway outside was quiet, a burning guilty feeling in her stomach. She wasn't doing anything technically wrong, but by practical and moral standards, it definitely was. Well, technically, she wasn't ever supposed to leave Terrabelle, so maybe it was technically wrong too.

That only made her stomach feel worse.

So Eve pretended she didn't realize and went about her day. She stepped out into the hallway, putting on an air of confidence. She'd always read that if you act like you know what you're doing and like you're supposed to be somewhere, people will assume it's true. She hoped that if she happened upon any undead residents it would work on them too.

When she tried to remember how to get to the library, she realized she couldn't. She thought back to her tour. It shouldn't have been that hard. But she couldn't remember much of that either. She frowned thoughtfully, wondering if that was on purpose. She wouldn't be surprised to find that was one of the different rules of the Under Realm. She made a mental note to ask Seth about it later.

This place was so different from her home- well, where she lived. She didn't really like to call it home anymore when both of her parents made her dread being there at all. She was going to move out as soon as she figured out where to go. But Terrabelle in general was a very nice place, and Eve very much enjoyed being outside in the village. Although, she supposed, she didn't really have many other places to compare it to. The Under Realm was almost another collection of separate buildings too, but none of it was outside. And it was so dark down here, and much colder than Terrabelle.

Eve eventually made it to the library with no incident, being particularly quiet as she walked. It was silly, not like someone in charge would just hear her walking and come throw her out, but it made her feel better. She picked a comfy-looking chair to sit in, then got up to go look for a book.

For a moment she wondered if it was okay for her to read these, but then she remembered Seth had specifically told her she was welcome to the library before when she'd mentioned that she enjoyed reading. Anyway, she did stuff she wasn't supposed to all the time; she had no problem reading forbidden books, except for the fact that she wasn't entirely sure how much Seth trusted her and didn't want to upset him enough that he'd kick her out or something.

She eventually settled on a book that was about the Under Realm. She went back to her chair in an out-of-the-way corner Seth had shown her, sat down, and began to read.

Eve read long enough that she almost forgot what was really going on outside of the book. She might've read half the book before she became aware that she was actually reading, not in the book, and in the Under Realm. This fact was only brought to her awareness by the section of the book she'd reached: consequences of the Under Realm on the living.

She sat up a little straighter as she started into the section. This could apply to her. A feeling of dread came over her even as she started reading, filling the place the guilt had been before the book made her forget about it. She suspected something would be a problem.

Sure enough, there was a problem in bold print, right in the second paragraph.

_The living may never remain in the Under Realm for more than twelve hours at a time, lest they be cursed to remain._

Eve didn't know how long she'd been here exactly, but it had been a majority of the day spent with Seth, and it had definitely been more than a few hours that she'd stayed overtime. Unknown to Eve at that point, that was only her first misstep.

What was she supposed to do about that? She couldn't go back in time, and though she wasn't sure exactly how long it had been, she was sure it was more than twelve hours. Even if she left now, that wouldn't undo it. _Could_ she even leave now if she wanted to? What if she couldn't leave at all and really was stuck here? What would she tell her parents? For that matter, what would she tell Seth? He was in charge of the place she was stuck in.

She resolved to go back to the portal and see if it was still open and if she could leave and decide what to do from there. After she finished reading this specific section just in case she'd accidentally violated any more rules. She didn't want any more problems to sneak up on her.

Almost at the end of the section was a list of seemingly insignificant things that were not insignificant here and their consequences. Stepping on a bone, eating specific foods, spilling the blood of another, in any way removing a plant from the garden, falling into specific traps for the living- wait.

Eve's eyes instantly snapped back to "removing a plant from the garden." She reached up and touched the small flower still in her hair. _Seriously_? And right now? She didn't need any more problems! Starting to feel a little sick, she looked to the consequence for this specific action.

All that was left to think was _oh, no._

* * *

_there must be more to this_

_our desperate wandering_

_how do we put to rest_

_all of our discontent?_


	21. 20

Seth had been highly amused by the fact that the _urgent trouble_ he'd been called to help with had, in fact, been a wraith who'd accidentally gotten stuck in the outside doorway. They couldn't go in the light, and when they did, they basically lost all ability to move and turned as outwardly pathetic as they really were on the inside.

To the wraith, that had been a serious problem. He could've died ( _wow, what an awful fate for someone whose existence has already been prolonged way too much, and that only in accordance with a great amount of misery_ ). But it was one of the funniest things Seth had seen in quite a while, and he didn't try to hide the fact that he was laughing from the wraith in the doorway and the others gathered in the hallway behind him.

"Just hold on a second, you're fine," Seth told the wraith in the doorway, who was shrieking in that weird telepathic way they communicated. He grabbed the wraith's arm and pulled him out of the sunlight, just that easy. "See? There you go."

The wraith immediately stopped shrieking, though Seth was pretty sure he could see smoke rising from the part of the wraith that had been in the light. _Yikes_. He winced and patted the wraith on the back. "I don't know how you got in that position, and I'm not going to ask, but looks like you probably shouldn't try that again."

 _No, of course not_ , the wraith answered hurriedly. _I apologize_.

"No need for that," Seth said. "That was more trouble for you than for me."

He stood still for a moment as the spectators all dispersed. That had been pretty funny, but it was a little annoying that he had to leave before Eve did. He would've liked to keep talking with her as long as he had the opportunity. But what was done was done, and there was no use worrying about it now. Seth looked at the doorway, watched how the sunlight fell on the ground outside. It stopped in a perfectly even line right at the doorway, where Seth knew the magical darkness started.

He stepped outside and sat on the ledge in between the staircases, one leading up and one down from the doorway. It looked like the sun was setting in whichever part of the world the Phantom Isle happened to be in right now.

That reminded Seth that he had actually been awake for a while, and now was probably a good time for him to go to sleep anyway. He didn't always follow the schedule of the sun from where he was, since the island moved and it wasn't always the same amount of time for what looked like a day and how long he'd been up. He wasn't sure where the sun had been when he'd gotten up either. He pretty much just made his own schedule since the sun was an unreliable indicator of time on the Phantom Isle.

He waited until the sun finished setting, admiring the colors, before going inside and going to bed. Seth had the fleeting thought that it almost felt like he could sense Eve still somewhere close, but he dismissed it quickly. The portal had been open for her, and the Under Realm wasn't a fun place to be, generally. She'd gone home maybe an hour ago by now. Seth fell asleep quickly, worn out from a long day.

The next morning, Seth went about business like usual. The morning seemed to drag on, very boring compared to visiting with a friend. Seth wondered about how normal people in the living world lived. They probably got to see their friends a lot more often, and he thought most of them lived with their families. He wished he did too.

Seth sensed a wraith approach the door to the throne room. "Come in," he said, wondering what was up. They didn't usually approach him first.

"The visitor would like an audience," the wraith said out loud.

Seth squinted. _Visitor?_ "Umm … what visitor are you talking about?"

"The Fair One that you invited into the Realm, Your Majesty."

"Eve? She's still here?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Did … you not know this?" The wraith sounded nervous. He was probably afraid of being punished for unpleasant news.

"I … no, I didn't."

Seth got up and followed the wraith out of the throne room, wondering what that could mean. He'd been right when he thought he could sense Eve still in the Under Realm before, but why? Did the portal close when he left or something? It shouldn't have. And why wouldn't she have come and found him sooner?

The wraith led Seth to the library, then took his leave. It didn't take Seth long to find Eve. Since he couldn't see her from the doorway, he figured she was probably in one of the more hidden seating areas, and there weren't too many of those. When he got there, she was standing with an open book in hand, facing a bookshelf, face more pale than Seth had ever seen it. She shifted on her feet, swaying a little, a habit Seth knew her parents had tried to stomp out. Something must've been very wrong.

"Eve?" He asked. She whirled around to face him, and he didn't miss that there was fear in her eyes. What was going on? "Are you okay?"

"Sorry, I didn't hear you coming," she said breathlessly. Her voice shook, and her eyes darted.

"That's fine. What's wrong?"

"I… " She didn't speak for a moment. "I think I broke some rules."

"Yeah?" Seth didn't get the point. She broke rules frequently, as did he. He was about to ask something else when he got a closer look at her book. The page it was opened to listed rules and consequences of the Under Realm. "Oh," he breathed.

"Yeah, oh," she let out a nervous laugh with no real humor in it.

"Can I see it?" He took the book from her, looking over the page. "What did you do?"

She wordlessly pointed out two sections. Overstaying the time limit for living beings meant one had to stay in the Under Realm. That could be devastating for her, but he quietly thought he would be glad to have her here, then felt bad for thinking that. This was bad but not the worst that could happen. The second section she'd pointed to was for removing a plant from the garden. Seth glanced back up at her, the realization that the flower in her hair that he hadn't paid and attention to the first time must've come from the garden hitting. _That_ would be why she was so upset.

Seth knew the penalty for disturbing the garden even without reading it. That was an offense punishable by death.

* * *

_white like ghosts_

_all of these thoughts_

_you hold over someone else_

_white like bones_

_the very same ones_

_you're gonna reckon with yourself_


	22. 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cannot believe I straight up forgot to post this chapter here two weeks ago when I posted it on ffn. truly sorry 😔

Death.

Eve watched Seth as he stared at the book, wondering what he was thinking. These were ancient laws that outdated any Underking. She wondered if he would be able to lessen the punishments for her or if she'd just have to live with them. Live with them. Maybe 'take them' would be better phrasing.

"What do I do?" She asked, hating how small her voice sounded. She didn't know what to say or what to do, and she hated that too. This whole mess could've been avoided. She'd done it to herself.

Seth looked up, startled, as if he'd forgotten she was there. "It'll be okay," was the first thing he said. Eve suspected that he didn't quite believe it herself and was just saying it to make her feel better.

"It's really… death for taking a flower?"

"Well, it's either death or become undead, whichever would be worse for the specific person."

"Great. That makes it so much better." Eve felt sick. She should've gone home when it was time to leave. Why did she get herself into these messes?

Seth was looking at the book again. "I'm sure there's something I can do," he said absently. The look on his face said he was thinking hard, coming up with some sort of plan. Even now, Eve couldn't help but think it was cute. That made her feel a tiny bit better.

"There… is?" She asked. She'd almost forgotten what he said already.

"There has to be," Seth said more confidently. "I'm the Underking. I'm in charge here."

Eve wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of anything. Her eyes were watering.

"It's gonna be okay," Seth said again. He grabbed her hand and looked her in the eye. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Blinking a couple times and holding her eyes open, a method she had learned long ago to prevent crying, Eve met Seth's gaze. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't identify, but it made her believe him.

Deep breath in. Let it out. "Okay." Be brave. "Thank you," she added, and she meant it.

Seth gave her a little smile and squeezed her hand before letting go and turning back to the books.

Continuing to take deep breaths, Eve could feel the tightness in her throat fading. She would be okay. And if she wasn't? If she ended up dying from this anyway, at least it wasn't an unjust punishment for a crime she didn't commit. Whatever happened happened. Thinking about it like that helped her to feel more calm.

Glancing back down at the book in his hands, Seth flipped through it a little, then looked up at the shelves in front of him again. He hovered a hand over the section that book came from, and Eve could see which book he was looking at by watching his hand move across the row.

For a couple minutes, they stood like this. Eve watched and tried to keep herself calm as Seth stared at the books, occasionally pulling one off the shelf and opening it but always putting it back. She wasn't even sure what he was looking for.

"Oh!" Seth said to himself. "Not here." He started to walk out of the aisle, then looked back and waved for Eve to follow.

She followed him down a few aisles and around corners that couldn't be seen from the open end of the aisle, which ultimately resulted in them taking a route Eve hadn't known existed to an extremely well-hidden section in the very back of the library.

Eve studied this new area with interest. If Seth hadn't purposefully brought her here right now, she would've never known it existed, and for it to be so well-hidden suggested secrets.

She was just about to ask what they were doing back here when Seth gave an answer. "This is one of the less public areas of the library, for older books or secret books or things like that. Well, and. It's got all of them: older books, secret books, and things like that." Eve laughed.

Seth started looking through the books back here, and Eve thought he seemed to be looking for a specific one. She stood uncertainly, watching him look. "This might take a while," Seth told her, as if reading her mind.

"All right then," Eve sighed, sitting down on the floor with her back against the wall. "I guess we don't have to worry about time limits anymore, huh?"

Seth laughed.

A while later, Seth sat down on the floor next to Eve with a large, antique-looking book. She hadn't noticed when he'd picked one out. He opened it on his knees.

"What did you find?" Eve asked, glancing at the pages.

"A lot of the same options," Seth said. "Death or becoming undead. But I did find one other option."

"What was it?" Eve asked when Seth didn't offer it. She noticed that he wasn't meeting her eyes.

"The only other option given in this case is for the person who's supposed to die to marry the Underking instead."

"... For us to get married?"

Seth slid the book over to Eve. "That used to be a common solution to breaking curses and things in the magical world." He was right- this book did say that the final option was for the offender to marry the Underking. The book painted that as the last resort, even after just taking the punishment of dying or becoming undead. The past Underkings were probably pretty disagreeable, Eve supposed. Good thing she got the good one.

"That would make sense why it's in fairytales then," she commented, thoughts spinning. It did make sense that the fairytales would have a basis in reality, and with how many she read, she should've guessed. There was silence for a few moments, and it felt a bit awkward.

"I would do it if it saves you," Seth said abruptly. He still didn't look at her. "Besides, it's not like it would be preventing me from marrying someone else." He laughed, then quickly became more serious. "I know that might not be true for you, though."

"No, no," Eve said quickly. She was of the age that her parents had been encouraging marriage for her, specifically to any one of a number of acceptable suitors they'd chosen. However, Eve hadn't come close to even liking any of the ones she'd met so far. "I don't have anyone I was planning on marrying."

She'd always wanted to get married for love- though she'd never been sure how she could make that happen.

"Would…" Seth hesitated, looking straight ahead. "Would you prefer this option over the other ones?"

Eve felt like her brain paused. Absolutely was her first thought. She would choose this a million times over. But it felt wrong somehow to say that- especially because she knew that if something like this happened, she wanted it to be real. If she were to marry him, she wanted him to want to marry her, not to ask because he had to.

But things didn't always work out the way she wanted them to.

Be brave.

"Yes," she said. "But… are you sure? I don't want you to feel like you have to-"

"I don't," Seth interrupted. "I mean, I'm not asking you out of some sort of obligation that I don't have." He looked her directly in the eye. "I would rather you not die."

Eve couldn't help but laugh a little. "Me too." She drifted back into her own thoughts. She couldn't just marry him to stay alive and not even tell him how she really felt. It wouldn't be right to lie about her motivation. She did want to stay alive, but if it somehow happened that he found out how she felt about him after they'd gotten married not for that? It would look like she was a crazy person trying to get an excuse to be with her crush or something. She had to-

"I need to tell you something, Eve," Seth said, interrupting her thoughts. He sounded tired.

"Okay," she said slowly.

"I just want you to know…" He took a deep breath, looking down at his hands, then looked back at her. "You mean a lot to me. I don't think I could stand losing you at all, especially if there was anything I could've done to prevent it. I… I care about you a lot." His eyes flicked back and forth between her and the ground, but he was making an effort to look at her as he spoke. "Man, I don't know how to say this."

Eve felt her face heating up. Seth was having an awful time trying to get out the words, but she was pretty sure she understood what he was trying to say anyway.

Seth fumbled the words for a few more moments before blurting: "I think I love you." The silence after that was strange, the simple declaration clashing vibrantly with the jumble of words before it, all trying to say the same thing in a much more complicated way. "I wasn't- well, I don't know if I was going to say anything about it. But it just doesn't feel right agreeing to marry you without letting you know that."

Eve didn't know what to say. Seth had said the exact thing she had been going to say, and she hadn't expected it. "I…" She had known fully well that she was in love, and she'd felt rather competent for realizing it, but she had completely overlooked the possibility that he might feel the same way. She hadn't even been looking for it. "Thank you," she finally said. "Thank you for telling me." Her head was spinning more than it had all day, trying to process this. Hadn't she had enough life-changing developments already today?

But the one thing she did know for sure was that she needed to let him know she felt the same.

One deep breath was all Eve allowed herself to prepare. Time was a commodity that wasn't well-used in conversations. She looked at Seth, who had looked back away from her once he finished talking, then touched his arm to make sure she had his attention. He met her eyes, and that connection was enough. "I love you too," Eve said quickly, releasing her breath in a rush. Oh. That was not at all what she was expecting to say. She'd figured she'd probably chicken out and start trying to talk around it and end up talking about some nonsense, but this was better.

It was what she meant.

* * *

_but in the end if all we are_

_is dogs out back chasing cars_

_then pray that we don't get the things we want_


	23. epilogue

Once upon a time, a girl went out for an adventure and stumbled upon the home of the Underking.

And as in the fairytales that same girl so loved to read, she found out that a figure of most people's nightmares had a soul after all. The Underking, for his part, found that people could see past first impressions and reputations and really care.

As the days went by, the two grew closer. They became friends and discovered along the way that they'd been friends once before, long ago. And in the time that passed, they each learned that the other was more important to them than they'd realized.

Love had never been a thing to come quickly, and that stayed the same. Circumstances prompted their marriage, not love, and that was something neither of them had hoped for. Their feelings were just that- feelings- not enough to initiate such a relationship (yet). But they chose to make the best of it.

The Underking and his adventurer were close. They were friends, and they cared for each other. And they knew that, with time, their relationship could- would- be the type they wanted.

Because love was a choice.

It was a choice to make every day, to wake up and want what was best for another. To make the decision to do what was best for each other.

And the two of them made the choice to choose love.

Even in dark times that seemed hopeless, they would not let their circumstances defeat them - because they knew that this was just the start of a new adventure, and there would be many more to come.

Not all stories had happy endings- but theirs did.

* * *

_Persephone and the lord of the dead_

_do we all go down for a season?_

_the creatures that we see_

_the images we collect_

_you can't bring them into the spring sun_


End file.
